


Spin and Win

by RotaRegion



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-09 12:14:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 26,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16449770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RotaRegion/pseuds/RotaRegion
Summary: After finding out her favorite game show host has been transformed into a Pokémon, an old woman who keeps many Pokémon as pets moves to the region where the show is taped. This is the start of a journey through the region with her formerly long-distance best friend, which turns into an effort to take down a despot interested in taking over the region. Heavy on the OCs and fake Pokémon. Idea for starters by 50ShadesOfHeliolisk.





	1. Prologue: Lexiblanc

Right between Alola and Unova, there sat the region of Rota. Its shape was wheel-like, with eight cities around the outside and a road connecting each to the central hub, Rota City. Known for its entertainment industry, Rota produced movies and television shows. One of these shows was Shocking Words, a form of Hangman with Pikachu’s Thunderbolt being charged up instead of a man being hanged. It had gone on for 35 years under the same host, a woman named Vanna Blank. Though she was now 60 years old, viewers still appreciated her shimmering golden hair and stacked figure.

On this episode, there were three contestants. One was named Lexie Vuncannon, and her chest was more impressive than Vanna’s. The next was Aubrey Simmel, a scrawny man with wedge-cut brown hair and a rainbow jacket. Faye Schnantz was the last, and she was an average-looking mousy lady. Vanna seemed to be distracted by Lexie, but she kept the game fair.

“There is no E in the Pokémon name!” shouted Vanna, gesturing towards a large board made of many screens shaped into a rectangle with missing corners. Five of them were white, representing that the Pokémon name had five letters, and the rest were a light sea-green color. As she said that, Pikachu charged up a jolt of thunder.

“R!” called out Lexie.

Vanna placed her hand on the first white tile. “One R!” The R showed up immediately.

“I’d like to solve. Rotom!” shouted Lexie.

“You got it!” The white tiles spelled out ROTOM now.

Suddenly, the green tiles of the puzzleboard turned orange. A blue aura surrounded the board, and two screens showed eyes on them.

The Rotom in the puzzleboard emitted electricity from its body. The three contestants scattered, but the studio audience stayed behind to see what would happen. Vanna tried to run, but a bolt of electricity hit her. Vanna was knocked to the floor immediately and a member of the studio audience called medical services.

Unfortunately, Vanna stopped breathing before anyone could arrive.

Then, the Rotom left the puzzleboard. As it did so, the board fell onto Vanna. Pikachu tried to shock Vanna back to life. Its Thunder Shock hit the board along with Vanna. They became wrapped in a glowing white light.

When the light disappeared, both the board and Vanna were gone, but in their place was a beautiful Pokémon. She had Vanna’s hair, but was chalk-white with Lopunny’s face and legs, royal blue boots, a sea-green dress that combined Gothitelle’s style with Gardevoir’s, and outspread wings that looked just like the puzzleboard, formed of many tiles of green and white. Six white tiles formed a row that spelled RSTLNE, the most common letters on the show.

Meanwhile, in a region named Nola near a gulf and divided by a river, an old woman named Spindini Solvana watched the news. Her favorite station was WVUE on channel 9, since it also had Shocking Words. A reporter from Rota was interviewing a newly discovered Pokémon, reportedly created from Vanna Blank and her puzzleboard. “So, what do you think your name should be?” said the reporter.

“I think it will be Lexiblanc.”

“Doesn’t that sound a little bit like Lexie Blank?”

“Yes.”

Spindini decided she would go to Rota so that she would catch her favorite game show host and show that she was a better contestant than Lexie.


	2. Starters

Spindini stored all her Pokémon, of which there were many, in the PC system, except her most faithful companion, Shadow the Shadeow. Though Shadeow was not very well-known and it had the Dark type, she still found the small gray catlike Pokémon to be adorable. She hopped on the back of a Dragonite with Shadow in her arms and directed it towards Rota.  
As the Dragonite flew over Rota, Spindini took in the sight of the region. A bustling metropolitan area glowed in the center of it, with paths radiating outwards. Each path had an interesting feature at the end of it. One had a precipitous cliff; one had a high mountain peak capped with snow, with a glistening brown tip; one had a placid ocean and a rolling beach; one had a dark outcropping with a cave carved into it; one had a thicket of forest; one had a mountain with a smoldering crater in it; one had a power plant glowing with energy; and one had a floral meadow with two rounded hills, Miltank grazing atop them. Rota looked wonderful, and Spindini decided it would be a great place to train.  
When the Dragonite alighted on a street of Rota City, Spindini looked around. She called Shadow into her Luxury Ball and decided to walk into a nearby building with a sign saying “Professor Fortuna’s Lab”, knowing regional professors usually gave out starter Pokémon and wanting to know what they were like in Rota.  
The young woman with cropped hair and a long lab coat greeted her with “Hello! You’re never too old to get a starter Pokémon!” Her name tag said “Prof. Fortuna Willow”.  
“Thanks, but I know my Pokémon. I’d like a Rota starter anyway, just to see what they’re like.”  
Fortuna sent out three Pokémon. One was a cream-colored ring-tailed lemur with green fur on its head and tail tip; one was a cream rabbit with a black puffy tail and neck fur, orange fur covering the top half of its head, and flame-like ears; and one was a blue platypus with dark blue stripes and an even darker blue tail and bill. “So, do you want Swingtail, Embunny, or Platypup?”  
Spindini lifted Embunny gently in her arms immediately.  
“Why don’t you take the Rota League challenge? You can defeat our eight gyms in any order, then delete the Elite Four, and finally our champions.”  
“Champions? Like more than one?”  
“Yes, we have Ellen and Portia. You’ve probably seen Ellen on her talk show, or at least heard of it.”  
“You’re right about that!” Spindini walked out of the lab. She then noticed her X-Transceiver ringing with the sound of Mew mewing. It was her friend Chaos!  
“So, you arrived in Rota?” said the black-and-white haired teenager on the screen.  
“Yes!”  
“I wish I could go to Rota too, but my parents want me to stay in Vene.”  
“Look, you’ll never get anywhere in that messed-up region. They don’t even use Pokémon Dollars; they use their own system, and inflation made it nearly worthless! Nick leads it, and he is so corrupt. To top it off, every day there’s either Primordial Sea or Desolate Land. I say disobey your parents this time. Don’t they have Ride Pagers?”  
“Yes, but—”  
“Take them both while they’re asleep and use one to call a Charizard or something.”  
“I’ll think about it.”  
The region of Vene was near the equator of the Pokémon world, which explained such extreme weather appearing even in the absence of the Hoenn legends. Chaos was one of the luckier residents, as their family was already rich. Unfortunately, they were overworked at Extreme Challenge Academy, or ECA for short, and their family still would only call them Gus instead of Chaos. They had one Pokémon, which was an Eevee that did not evolve yet. There was no Mossy Rock or Ice Rock near Chaos’ house, evolution stones were rare in Vene, and ECA stopped Eevee from spending enough time with Chaos for him to evolve into Espeon, Umbreon, or Sylveon.  
Chaos put away their X-Transceiver on the way home from school, after talking to an old lady named Spindini. It was Desolate Land at the moment. After getting home, they put Eevee’s Pokéball on their belt, took two Ride Pagers off the table, noticing their parents were at work. Going outside, Chaos called for a Tropius. One flew in and Chaos mounted onto its back.  
“Rota,” Chaos directed.  
The Tropius flew to the Rota region, then landed in front of the Rota City Pokémon Center, where Spindini was standing. She immediately noticed them and called “Chaos!”  
“Spinny! What’s that new Pokémon you have?”  
“It’s an Embunny, the Fire starter of Rota. Professor Fortuna’s giving them out. Her lab is right there.”  
Chaos ran into the lab, shouting, “Can I have an Embunny?” But when he noticed the lemur standing on the table, they changed their mind. “Actually, I want this lemur.”  
“Swingtail is just fine! You can have it!”  
Chaos showed Swingtail to Spindini. As they compared their new Pokémon, a man with long curly hair and an accordion strapped to his body ran into the lab.  
“Hey, is that…” said Spindini.  
“It must be, but why would he be here?”  
The two trainers watched the man ask for a Platypup. As soon as Spindini heard his voice, there was no doubt in her mind who he was.  
“It’s the great parody artist, Alfred Yankovic!”  
“Oh, Weird Al? I’ve heard of him.”  
“I’m such a Weird Al fan, I have no idea why I never discussed it with you. Maybe I didn’t think you would know, living in Vene and all.”  
“I’m really from Unova, where more people heard of him.”  
Spindini and Chaos watched as Al said, “Yeah, I’m from Quintcliff. I just wanted to become a trainer after all these years. Platypup’s the best! You know, one of my friends worked on a show with one of its evolutions as a main character, but I can’t remember what the evolution was called… I just know its nickname was Perry! I think I’ll call mine Perry.”  
“Oh, that reminds me. What do you want to nickname your starter?” said Chaos.  
“Vanna. After the lovely Vanna White.”  
“You know, there was a character in a show I used to watch. She was cute, just like this lemur! And her name was Rin. I’ll name my Swingtail Rin.”  
Suddenly, a white van almost crashed into Spindini and Chaos. “Watch it!” shouted Spindini. She took a look at the van to find that it had no driver, confusing her until she saw that the headlights of the van were eyes, and it had a mouth, ears like that of a lemur, and large pink wings. Spindini pointed her Pokédex at the van.  
“Vanawe, the Fairy Van Pokémon,” said the Pokédex. “These vans roam the region of Rota, looking for trainers to carry. They provide this service for free, but can be tipped in berries.”  
Spindini didn’t think she could catch a Vanawe yet, so she turned away from it. She didn’t have any Pokéballs except for the ones that belonged to Shadow and Embunny, anyway.  
With the three Trainers in the room, Professor Fortuna decides to hand them each something. “Typechart Cards.” she says.  
Z3rc intently looks at theirs. “Omni?” They ask.  
“There’s one Pokémon out there with every type! No one has been able to catch it, though. And they say there’s a second in another region!” Fortuna replied.  
“So, which city should we go to first?” said Chaos.  
“Weird Al’s from Quintcliff, so I say we go there.”  
Spindini and Chaos walked up an uphill path marked by a sign that said “Route Ω1”. The esoteric system confused Spindini a little, but Hoenn had 100-series routes and Sinnoh had 200-series routes, so she would get used to it.  
After a leisurely walk with a few sightings of Butterfree and Shinx, Spindini and Chaos arrived at Quintcliff City. It was built of limestone near a cliff overlook, but not on its edge.


	3. Battle in the Sky

Spindini wanted to challenge the Gym, noticing a sign on the door. It read, “Quintcliff Gym: All Sky Battles, all the time!” Looking over her PC for eligible Pokémon, Spindini noticed her Sky Battle selection was tragically limited. All she had was a Swanna, which she had nicknamed Skimmer, and a Honchkrow, which she had nicknamed Harvey. And even worse, she wouldn’t be able to use Vanna, as she could not fly.

“What kind of silly name is Harvey for a Honchkrow?” said Chaos.

“It’s after a game show host. Don’t judge me!”

“I think we should get in some training on the cliff.”

“I agree. We may even find some new Pokémon to catch!”

Spindini and Chaos walked into the Pokémart, after Spindini withdrew Harvey. The blue-haired woman at the counter said, “How can I help you today?”

“We’d like six Pokéballs.”

“That’ll be 1200.”

Spindini paid the 1200 and gave three Pokéballs to Chaos. They walked together onto the cliff, but noticed a sign that said, “Lynwood Cliff this way. All Pokémon beyond this point are Lv. 1-10.”

“Wild Level 1 Pokémon?” said Chaos.

“Now I know why Weird Al called his album Straight Outta Lynwood!”

Spindini noticed a Pokémon she hadn’t seen before. It was a purple lark with a black musical note pattern on its outstretched wings, and it flew just off the cliff. She quickly sent out Vanna.

“Vanna, Pound!” Vanna leapt up and hit the lark with one ear. While that was going on, Spindini used her Pokédex, and Chaos checked theirs as well.

“Lusongia, Lyrical Pokémon. Its songs are so sweet they can put Pokémon ten times its size to sleep.”

“That’ll be useful when catching other Pokémon in Rota…” Spindini said, but was cut off by a voice singing “Lu-lu-lu-lu…” Vanna closed her eyes and started falling, but Spindini caught her in time.

“Well, I guess she’s out for now.” Spindini threw a Pokéball at Lusongia, catching it before it fell. She watched it wobble three times until it clicked shut. “All right! My first catch of Rota!”

Chaos sent out Rin against a Woobat flying over the grass. “Rin, Pound that fuzzball!” Rin used her ringtail to strike the bat, and Chaos threw a Pokéball, catching him.

After catching the Pokémon, Spindini and Chaos went back to the gym. They noticed that the inside was covered with trampolines. On the lowest platform which had no trampolines, a Gym Leader with a flapped cap and aviator goggles landed from above. “So, how many badges?”

“None.”

“Get out your zero-badge teams!” called the leader.

Spindini climbed up to the first trampoline platform, which had a Bird Keeper bouncing on it. “I’ll get you yet with my flying Pokémon!” He quickly sent out a Wingull.

“Go, Lusongia!”

“Wingull, use Water Gun!”

“Sing!”

Wingull charged up a jet of water to fire at Lusongia, but Lusongia’s song put it to sleep before it could.

“Nicely done! Now try a Gust, Lusongia!”

Lusongia whipped up a wind at the sleeping bird, knocking it out.

“That was easy!” Spindini bounced up to the next platform to find another Bird Keeper. She thought about sending out Honchkrow against the trainer, but decided it would be unfair since their Pokémon were so weak.

“Go, Swablu!” the keeper shouted.

“Sing!” both trainers shouted in unison.

Lusongia tried to sing a song, but Swablu drowned her out with its own song, making Lusongia fall asleep.

“Good, now Peck it!” Swablu flew over Lusongia and used its beak to attack.

“Wake up!” Spindini called, but Lusongia remained asleep as the onslaught continued. Finally, Lusongia woke up. “Try a Gust!”

“Don’t let it get you, keep Pecking!” This was to no effect, as the Gust blew Swablu away like the little cloud it was. The keeper recalled it as it smacked into a trampoline on the side of the gym.

Spindini’s next challenger was a Bug Catcher. “Go, Butterfree!”

“Ah, I have the type advantage,” she said. “Use Gust!”

“Stun Spore, Butterfree!” As Lusongia flapped her wings, so did Butterfree, releasing a cloud of yellow spores. They landed on Lusongia’s wings, causing it to be harder for her to move them.

“Keep trying to use Gust!”

“I won’t let that happen! Confusion, now!”

Lusongia finally moved her wings hard enough to cause a significant disturbance, causing the Bug Catcher to recall Butterfree. Then, he shouted, “Go, Yanma!” The dragonfly appeared in a flash of white light, using its wings to build up speed.

“Yanma, use Sonic Boom!” Yanma released a sound wave at Lusongia, causing her to reel backwards.

“Try to Peck it!” Lusongia dove at Yanma with her beak crashing into it, puncturing its wing.

“Yanma, try Sonic Boom again!” Yanma could no longer create sound waves with a broken wing, so the Bug Catcher recalled it. Spindini jumped down to the lowest level to heal her Lusongia.

She walked into the Pokémon Center, handing her Pokéballs over to the pink-haired nurse. “The Lusongia got paralyzed.”

“I’ll give her the finest treatment!” The Pokéballs went into a machine, which flashed a few times, then the nurse handed them back to Spindini.

Spindini walked back into the gym and bounced to the second-highest level, where she met another Bug Catcher. This one sent out a cute, fuzzy, white moth with eyes that flashed like cameras. Spindini was not familiar with this Pokémon, so she used her Pokédex.

“Fuzzoom, Robot Moth Pokémon. This fuzzy moth can use its eyes to record footage, but is easily distracted by lamps. It is the final form of Larvelvet.”

The robot part worried her, because it may be part-Steel, which would make it no longer weak to Flying, but then she remembered that since it had to be Flying, that would make it not a Bug, which would be illogical. She ordered a Gust.

“Fuzzoom, attack with your own Gust!”

The two waves of wind crashed into each other, but Lusongia’s gust won out and sent the Fuzzoom flying. The Bug Catcher bitterly recalled it as Spindini landed on the highest trampoline. The Gym Leader from earlier bounced on it also.

“I am Wilbur, Gym Leader of Quintcliff City. Since I discovered Pokémon, I have always enjoyed the Flying types the most. The mechanics of their flight inspired me to try to fly myself. Though I have been unsuccessful without outside help, at least here I can feel like I’m flying. So, here goes! Go, Lusongia!” Wilbur sent out a Pokémon identical to the one Spindini had caught.

“Here’s my own Lusongia!” Spindini threw a Pokéball, releasing the musical bird. “Sing!”

Wilbur only laughed as the opposing Lusongia failed to fall asleep.

“What?”

“Lusongia hear their own songs so much they don’t fall asleep when they do! Lusongia, Fly!”

The bird flew to the ceiling, then dive-bombed Spindini’s Lusongia.

“Lusongia, try a Wing Attack!” shouted Spindini. Lusongia flew towards the opposing one and struck it with a wing.

“Use Pluck!” Wilbur’s Lusongia attempted to remove a feather from Spindini’s.

“Don’t let that happen! Wing Attack, now!” Spindini’s Lusongia struck Wilbur’s with the wing that it was plucking. “Wing Attack as much as you can!” Lusongia kept hitting the other.

“Aerial Ace!” Wilbur’s Lusongia slashed Spindini’s with one of its talons, but it was evident that it was tired.

“One last Peck!” Spindini’s Lusongia pecked the other harshly as it fell to the floor.

“Lusongia, come back! Go, Oricorio!” Wilbur sent out a yellow bird holding pom-poms made of feathers. Spindini knew the strategy. Most Sky Battle Pokémon were Flying, and he was using the Electric Oricorio to resist Flying! Spindini had to pull through, though.

“Lusongia, Scratch it with your talons!” Lusongia dragged its claws across Oricorio’s face.

“Peck, now!” Oricorio slammed its beak into Lusongia’s face repeatedly.

“At least it doesn’t know any Electric attacks,” Spindini breathed in relief. “Sing!” Oricorio tried to put the pom-poms over its head, but the song came through anyway. “Now Scratch it before it wakes up!” Lusongia used its claws again, and when Oricorio woke up but couldn’t get up, Wilbur conceded.

“Here.” He gave Spindini a metallic letter A with wings. “This is the Aerial Badge.” He then gave Spindini a light blue disk. “This is Aerial Ace.”

Spindini decided to return to the bottom, but watch Chaos’s battle with Wilbur. They used Woobat’s Confusion to defeat Lusongia, but had trouble with Oricorio’s Swagger strategy, which confused Woobat so it kept attacking itself. Suddenly, Woobat released a psychic wave that caused more disturbance to Oricorio than Confusion had. “What?” asked Spindini.

“That was Stored Power! Swagger makes its target more powerful so that it would hurt itself more, so Stored Power becomes more powerful with it.” Chaos collected the badge and TM from Wilbur.

“But that’s an Egg Move!”

“There must have been some Xatu on the cliff for Swoobat to breed with, and that’s how it got that move.”

“We need to get it Calm Mind to make that move even more powerful!”

“The Pokémart here only sells Flying TMs.”

“Well, maybe we need some of those, too!” said Spindini. “Anyway, what happened to Eevee?”

“I won’t use it in case it evolves into Espeon or Umbreon. I may not want those. I still haven’t decided.”

“It needs a little training. It’s only level 8, and so is Shadow. In retrospect, I should have trained her.”

“Our starters were level 8 when we first got them, but they gained a few levels now. Let’s train Shadow and Eevee together!”

“But it’s getting late. How about we stay at the Overlook Inn?”

Spindini and Chaos checked into a room there, which had a TV. “Let’s watch Shocking Words,” Spindini said. It was still on the air, only with Lexiblanc instead of Vanna. But during a station break, something came on that caught Spindini’s eye.

A man with fluffy yellow hair and a round face that looked almost spray-tanned appeared on the screen. Spindini thought he resembled Gumshoos.

The man started speaking. “Hello. I’m Alex Stumpf. Would you like to return to how the Pokémon world was, before all of this degeneracy? I mean, two champions! Why would anyone want that? Well, I think we need more strong leaders, and less decisions by battle. Remember when Kanto used to have a leader? Unova used to have a president? Well, it’s all been replaced with champions. And there are only 151 Pokémon! We need to return to those. It’s time to reinstate our traditional atmosphere.” As he said that, the words “Reinstate Our Traditional Atmosphere” appeared on the screen, with the first letter of each word in red. “Allow me to lead Rota, and possibly the Pokémon world.”

“What does he mean, degeneracy? I think it’s cool that we have two champions. And that only 151 thing was nonsensical,” said Spindini.

“I agree! He thinks he’s so clever because his slogan spells Rota.”


	4. Cool Rounds

During the night, Spindini dreamed of a large white dragon with clouds on its head and feathered wings spread wide. Maybe it was more of a wyvern, since it only had two legs. “Who’s that Pokémon?” was all Spindini could think.  
After waking up, Spindini and Chaos taught Aerial Ace to their flying Pokémon, and Chaos also held the disk to Swingtail’s head.  
Chaos pointed their Pokédex at Woobat to check her ability, knowing that Unaware would be convenient, but Klutz would not. Simple was unlikely, but to their surprise she had Simple! It had an asterisk next to it, so Chaos tapped it.  
The Pokédex screen changed to read, “In Rota, because of the strange energy powering the region, some Pokémon mutate. It can be in the form of a move a Pokémon cannot use yet, a move only its evolution can use, or a special move exclusive to this method, being used suddenly in battle (known as a Hysterical Move), an Egg Move, or a Hidden Ability. These mutations each have a 5% chance of occurring.”  
“Mutations, huh?”  
Spindini pulled up a Rota map on her X-Transceiver. “Maybe we should go to Chillose City next. It has Glacial Peak.”  
“Sounds like a good idea to me.” Chaos put away their Pokémon and started walking with Spindini back to Rota City. They walked through the light dusting of snow on Route Ω2, looking at the snowy Sandshrew scattered around the area.  
When they arrived in Chillose City, Spindini noticed the many advertisements for Coca-Cola, and even a museum dedicated to it. “Wanna go in?” said Spindini.  
“Of course!” shouted Chaos. “I hear you can try Coke products from around the world there!”  
“What about we check out nearby Glacial Peak? There could be some new Rotan Pokémon there!”  
“Okay, but we’re going back to the museum soon.”  
Spindini and Chaos walked towards Glacial Peak, noticing a sign that said the Pokémon there were levels 11 to 20. Spindini then remembered that the peak was brown, something she thought was odd. She asked a nearby local, “Why is the tip of Glacial Peak brown?”  
“It’s made of frozen Coke! Isn’t that wonderful?”  
Chaos was suddenly eager to climb up Glacial Peak.  
“No, we can look for Pokémon at the bottom just fine.”  
“But I want to lick it!”  
“Okay, you can do that once.”  
Spindini then ran into a cute, snowy Vulpix. “Go, Lusongia! Sing!”  
Before Lusongia could sing a note, Vulpix kicked up some snow at her, freezing her wings and making her fall. “Come back! Go, Vanna! Use Pound!”  
Vanna struck at the fox with its ears, and Spindini threw a Pokéball, which ended up catching her. “Yes! So cute!”  
Spindini and Chaos then started scaling Glacial Peak, with Vanna there in case it got too cold for them. The snow pounded on their heads and dripped down, chilling their unprepared bodies. Vanna’s natural heat repelled some of the snow, but eventually it got too much for such a young Pokémon to take care of. Spindini and Chaos trudged through the snow as it melted into their shoes, soaking their socks.  
Finally, they arrived at the tip of Glacial Peak. They licked the frozen Coke. “Mmmm…”  
Then, Spindini noticed a polar bear doing the same thing! “Beartic! Run!”  
“That’s not a Beartic.” They were right, as it did not have a beard. Chaos used their Pokédex to identify the Pokémon.  
“Yanbear, Polar Bear Pokémon. Loves licking the tip of Glacial Peak.”  
Chaos wanted to catch that Yanbear, so he sent out his Eevee. “Quick Attack, now!”  
Eevee leapt towards the bear and struck him with his tail. Chaos threw a Pokéball, but Yanbear broke out. He flung some shards of ice at Eevee, making his tail bleed a little. Chaos threw another Pokéball, this time successfully.  
“Let’s go see the Coca-Cola Museum,” said Chaos. They walked into the museum, only to notice it was a gym!  
“How many badges?” said the woman who led the gym.  
“One,” said Spindini. The leader slid on the ice, which was made of frozen Coke, back to her usual spot.  
“This doesn’t seem too bad,” said Spindini, taking one step onto the icy floor. She then lost her balance and slid around, crashing into a Hiker.  
“Swinub, go!” He threw Swinub’s Pokéball.  
“This will be easy! All I need is Vanna,” said Spindini as she sent out her Embunny. “Ember! Now!”  
“Mud-Slap!” Swinub released some mud from its body then kicked it towards Vanna, suppressing the fire and landing in Vanna’s eyes.  
“Two can play at this game. Try a Smoke Screen!” Vanna released a puff of smoke from her mouth to block Swinub’s view of her.  
“Mud Bomb!” Swinub shot a blast of mud, but ended up missing Vanna.  
“Ember again!” Vanna found it hard to aim the fire and ended up melting an icy boulder somewhere in the gym.  
“Try another Mud-Slap!” Swinub kicked mud at Vanna again, landing it in her eyes.  
“Why don’t you attack while bouncing? Ember!” Vanna leapt up and some mud dropped from her eyes as she shot a flame at Swinub, scorching its fur.  
“Swinub, come back!” The Hiker recalled his Pokémon.  
Spindini slid on the ice a bit more until she ran into a Swimmer. He sent out his Spheal, and Spindini decided to send out Vulpix since Vanna was weak to water.  
“Spheal, use Rollout!” The spherical seal dug its flippers in then rolled right at Vulpix.  
“Payback!” Vulpix jumped up at Spheal, digging her claws in.  
“Keep rolling!” Spheal returned to its original position and rolled again.  
Vulpix breathed out icy air that appeared to sap all the energy from Spheal, stopping its roll. As Spheal’s eyes closed and the Swimmer called it back, Spindini looked on in surprise. “I thought Ice attacks didn’t do much damage to Spheal!”  
Chaos, who had just defeated the Hiker’s Swinub, said, “Wow, that’s a complicated breeding chain! Vulpix must have learned Freeze-Dry from a Delibird, who would have had to learn it from a Lapras.”  
Spindini spun across the ice to the starting platform then left the gym to get her Pokémon healed. While on the way back, she let out her Vulpix. “Pix pix?”  
“I was just going to ask you if you wanted to evolve.”  
“Vulpix vulpix.”  
“Okay, I’ll wait until you’ve learned a few more moves.”  
Spindini went back into the gym, then slid into another Hiker. “Go, Snorunt!” he shouted.  
“Vanna, go!” Spindini let out Vanna. “Ember now!” The rabbit sprang into action.  
“I won’t let that happen! Snorunt, use Double Team!” Snorunt created two copies of itself from light. Vanna breathed a little flame, but it hit one of the copies, which disintegrated immediately.  
“Bite the bunny!” Snorunt ran towards Vanna’s ear. She tried to leap out of the way, but Snorunt chomped on it before she could, drawing blood.  
“You can see Snorunt now, try another Ember!” Vanna shot a flame at Snorunt, melting the top of its head.  
“Come back! Go, Cubchoo!” The Hiker sent out a small bear with an icy snot dripping.  
“This will be easy! Just Ember it!”  
“Bide, Cubchoo!” Cubchoo wrapped its arms around itself and squinted its eyes shut.  
“Vanna, use Tail Whip!” She wagged her puffy tail at Cubchoo. As she was doing that, it ambushed her with its sharp claws. Spindini recalled the bleeding Vanna and sent out Lusongia. “You did great, Vanna.”  
“Lusongia, Aerial Ace!” She quickly slashed the bear with a claw. Looking at the incision on its chest, the Hiker called Cubchoo back.  
Spindini was starting to get the hang of this icy floor, but she knew that she had to battle one more trainer before she could get to the leader. The trainer was a Psychic. “Here it goes! Go, Jynx!”  
Spindini didn’t know what to do, but then she remembered her Vulpix. “Go, Vulpix!”  
“Jynx, Double Slap!” The womanly Pokémon slapped Vulpix around with her purple hands. Spindini wasn’t fazed.  
“Use Payback!” Vulpix swung her six tails into Jynx’s face, making it fall to the icy floor. The Psychic recalled her Pokémon.  
“Now only the leader is left!” Spindini skated her way to the leader’s platform. Though Spindini wasn’t that worried about the battle, the leader herself looked imposing with her spiky white hair and light blue shoulder pads.  
“I’m Frigga. I saw you had trouble with that Cubchoo; let me heal your Pokémon.”  
“You can do that?” Spindini had never heard of a Gym Leader healing Pokémon for the challenger.  
“In Rota, we do that. You only have to heal between trainers yourself.” She took Spindini’s Pokéballs, placed them in a pocket, and handed them back to her.  
“Now it’s time to battle.” Frigga sent out a Snover. The ice Pokémon was immediately surrounded in a hail of ice crystals that spread to fill the gym. “Oh, I should have told you. We battle in rounds here. I send out my first Pokémon, you send out your first. Then I send out my second, and so do you. Then our thirds. No switching here! Best two out of three wins.”  
Spindini’s heart sank as she realized she would have to send out Lusongia. But she decided now was the best time to do it, since Snover carried the Grass type. “Go, Lusongia!” The lark materialized next to her. “Lusongia, use Sing!”  
Before the bird could sing a note, Frigga called, “Ice Shard!” Snover materialized crystals of ice and shot them towards Lusongia, hurting her too much to sing. With the shards of ice and the hail beating down upon her head, Lusongia was already looking tired.  
“If I don’t win, I lose. Aerial Ace!” Lusongia soared towards Snover and slashed into its lower body. Snover shook off the gash.  
“Grass Whistle, now!” Snover put two of its grassy fingers into its hidden mouth and released a sharp whistling sound, causing Lusongia to fall asleep immediately.  
“Good job! Now try an Icy Wind!” Snover breathed out a bundle of icy air and the crystals covered Lusongia’s wings. Spindini cried out, but Lusongia would not wake up. “Snover, Razor Leaf!” Snover shot a sharp leaf into Lusongia’s chest, and the battle was over.  
Spindini couldn’t believe it; she was down a round. She absolutely needed to win this one. “Go, Vanna, go!” The fire rabbit was ready to win.  
“Yanbear, you can do it!” Spindini was faced with a Pokémon just like the one her friend had caught.  
“Vanna, try a Flame Wheel!”  
“Yanbear, use Cola Blast!” Vanna had encased herself in a flaming aura, but the shower of Coca-Cola put it out immediately. Vanna still struck the bear, but it was not as powerful as it would have been with the fire. Oddly enough, Vanna didn’t seem to be that damaged. So it wasn’t a Water attack?  
Spindini remembered what Chaos’s Pokédex said when they caught Yanbear. It said Yanbear was Ice/Fairy, so the best guess for the type of the new attack was Fairy. It would make sense, since it didn’t seem to be that effective on a Fire-type.  
“Now use Slash!”  
“Flame Wheel, now!” Vanna emitted flames as the Yanbear’s claw dug into her and struck the bear with her ears. Yanbear stumbled back and fell over onto the ice.  
As Frigga recalled her Pokémon, Spindini noticed something happening. Vanna turned into a glowing shape of white light. The shape’s ears grew and its body became bulkier. “You’re evolving!”  
The white light dissipated, revealing an orange rabbit with yellow limbs, black claws, and ears with flames on top of them. Spindini used her Pokédex to identify what Vanna had become. “Rabbitorch, Fire Rabbit Pokémon. This Pokémon likes to collect volcanic rock in preparation for further evolution.”  
Spindini pushed the evolution to the back of her mind, because she would have to send out Vulpix next. She recalled Vanna and replaced her with the white fox.  
“Go, Glaceon!” shouted Frigga. This was one of the Eeveelutions that Chaos could choose from.  
Spindini waited for Glaceon to attack, seeing how the Payback strategy worked before. Frigga called out, “Glaceon, Iron Tail!” This was trouble.  
Glaceon slammed its tail towards the Vulpix, but she scattered out of the way before it could hit. “Now use Payback!” called Spindini.  
Glaceon hid in a pile of snow caused by the hail, and Vulpix looked for it, but when she smashed her tail into snow, only snow scattered, with no Glaceon to be found. “Try a Quick Attack!” Glaceon ran towards Vulpix, who then realized that she could use a similar strategy, but too late. Glaceon’s paws smashed into Vulpix’s head, and it went back to its pile.  
“Use Feint Attack!” This time, Vulpix immediately found the pile as she struck Glaceon with a paw full of dark energy. Vulpix hid in the pile again as Frigga ordered a Shadow Ball, and Spindini decided to finish this. “Secret Power!”  
Vulpix released a wave of energy from her body, shocking Glaceon as its muscles stiffened. “Yes! Now Hex it!” Vulpix uncurled her tails, creating a mysterious shadowy wave that left Glaceon unconscious.  
“Press this to pay respects. It’s the Flake Badge.” Frigga held out a metallic letter F surrounded by snowflakes. “This is Ice Beam.” She gave Spindini a light blue disk. “You can also try many types of Coca-Cola.”  
“I’ll wait until my friend is done.” Spindini watched Chaos’s battle with Frigga. Their Woobat had learned Calm Mind, allowing her to win against Snover. Frigga’s Yanbear beat Chaos’s, but Swingtail pulled through against Glaceon. Just like Vanna, Rin evolved into something completely new. She was still a lemur, but a larger lemur with a thicker tail, leaves covering its neck and the base of its tail, and pointed leaves for ears. Chaos used their Pokédex.  
“Treemur, Lemur Pokémon. Native to Lemuria, this Pokémon hides in trees and eats berries.”  
“Lemuria? I never heard of that!” said Spindini.  
“It’s where Swingtail and its evolutions are native to. They were introduced into Rota as starter Pokémon but are most at home in Lemuria,” explained Chaos.  
“You know a lot about lemurs!”  
“They’re my special interest.”  
Frigga handed Chaos the badge and TM. Spindini and Chaos both spent a lot of time drinking Coca-Cola products in the museum and sharing them with their Pokémon. There was Coke flavored with almost every kind of berry in the world. Vulpix enjoyed the Petaya Coke the most, because it seemed to make her a bit more powerful. After trying every drink, they left the museum.  
Suddenly, a man in a red hat that said “Reinstate Our Traditional Atmosphere” ran up to Spindini. “How would you like to support Alex’s effort to become leader of Rota?”  
“I’d prefer not to. He wants to get rid of all the Rotan Pokémon!”  
“No, he just won’t acknowledge them as existing and will forbid them from the league. That’s a common misconception.”  
“How much influence can he have anyway?”  
“Well, he’s part of our Elite Four. That’s how much influence.”  
“Chaos, did you hear that? We have to stop him immediately!”  
“Can’t that wait until we get to the league?” said Chaos.  
“A simple battle can’t stop him. We need to remove him.”  
“Let’s think of a way to do it at the official Coca-Cola Hotel!”  
They soon realized that they shouldn’t burden the hotel workers with the fact, and should probably only tell it to the Gym Leaders, since they were working for the league. After drinking the Coke that the hotel had stocked the fridge with, both trainers fell into a slightly restless sleep.


	5. Soaked

Spindini had another dream. In it, she saw a large white dragon with the webbing of its wings made of ice, icicles for horns, and a long tail with icy spikes down it. That wasn’t any Pokémon she heard of, either.

When she and Chaos woke up, she decided they should know. “I keep having dreams about Pokémon that I don’t know yet! First there was a cloud wyvern with huge wings, and now it’s this ice dragon!”

“Are you sure they’re not Altaria and Kyurem?”

“They didn’t look like them.”

“They’re just probably Rotan Pokémon you don’t know yet. Maybe you heard of them but forgot, and they’re still in your subconscious?”

“Could be.” After teaching Yanbear and Vulpix Ice Beam, Spindini and Chaos went to the Pokémart to buy some TMs. Unfortunately, their selection was limited to Ice Beam, Blizzard, and Frost Breath, and each of them already had Ice Beam from Frigga. Then, Spindini saw a pink disk that wasn’t disk-shaped at all. It looked more like the puzzleboard, because it was a square with missing corners. “What’s that?” she asked.

“It’s a Vanna Machine, or VM for short,” said the lady at the counter. “Vanna produced these before she became Lexiblanc. This one contains Cola Blast, a Fairy-type move with 90 power. It can heal its allies as well.”

“Then I’ll take it!” Chaos bought the VM for 500 and immediately taught it to their Yanbear.

“Vanna Machines, huh? I don’t know why I never heard of any of them,” said Spindini.

“Well, they are only distributed in Rota,” explained the lady.

Spindini sent out Vanna as they left the Pokémart after both trainers replenished their Pokéball supplies, this time with one Great Ball and two Pokéballs for each one. “How do you feel about evolving?”

“Torch torch.” She smiled.

“That’s great! I’m glad you like being evolved.”

Spindini checked the foot of Glacial Peak for any Pokémon that would have sourced Egg Moves for her Vulpix, using an X-Transceiver app. A list of moves came up. Flail had icons of Cubchoo and Beartic next to it, Freeze-Dry had Delibird and Swinub, Secret Power had many Pokémon, and then there was… Will-O-Wisp? It had an orange foxlike Pokémon Spindini did not know. She tapped its icon.

“Floorfox, Snow Fox Pokémon. It buries itself in snow and only accepts cookies from secure sources.”

Cookies? This sounded like the browser Firefox, but Floorfox was a snow fox! Spindini decided that it must be Fire/Ice.

They decided to set on their way down Route Ω3 to Torrehex City, and the sand of the route grit up inside their shoes.

“This must be a desert route,” Chaos said as the sun beat down.

“But it’s called Route Omega 3, as in fish oil. It could be a beach route,” said Spindini. Her theory was confirmed as a Krabby scuttled under a rock.

They soon arrived at Torrehex City, a bustling area with a beach stretching out from it. A sign hung from a pole saying that all Pokémon in the area were levels 21-30. Spindini and Chaos decided that they would enjoy the ocean for a while. They went into two of the changing huts on the beach but then realized that they did not pack their swimming clothes.

“I guess we’ll have to either buy some or just battle the gym right now,” said Spindini.

“Look over there!” shouted Chaos. A beautiful dolphin with a glowing rainbow horn leapt out of the water. Spindini quickly pointed her Pokédex at it.

“Dolphicorn, Narwhal Pokémon. This graceful Pokémon rescues trainers from the dangers of the sea by stabbing them with its horn.” The screen showed it as a Water/Fairy.

“I just have to have it!” shouted Spindini, as she opened the PC app on her X-Transceiver. She withdrew her Dewgong, which she nicknamed Silky, then got on her back and followed the Dolphicorn. It poked its head out of the water and looked up at Spindini.

“Silky, hit it with a Horn Attack!” The two Pokémon crossed horns, each leaving a bleeding hole in the other’s neck. Spindini threw a Great Ball at the Dolphicorn, and her Dewgong caught it in her fins as it clicked shut. “Got it!”

As Spindini rushed Dolphicorn to a Pokémon Center and stored Silky in the PC again, Chaos caught a Clauncher who had wandered onto the beach. The experience from that battle caused Woobat to evolve into Swoobat.

Spindini rejoined Chaos and looked over at a nearby harbor with a sign that said “Torrehex Gym”. She and Chaos noticed the lack of a clear building. “Where’s the gym?” she asked the nearest man, who wore wave-patterned swim trunks and had a shock of bright blue hair.

“The sea is our gym!” he shouted. “So, how many badges?”

“Two,” she said, showing her badges.

Spindini got on her Dolphicorn and surfed to the nearest trainer, a Surfer. He said, “We only do Surf Battles here!”

“What are Surf Battles?”

“You ride your Pokémon and I ride mine. We can only use Pokémon that aren’t that one until we run out of other Pokémon, and some moves may not work, like Earthquake.”

“In that case… Go, Lusongia!”

“All I have is this Lombre, and my Mudkip for surfing purposes.”

“Aerial Ace! Now!” Lusongia flew towards Lombre.

“Fake Out!” Lombre jumped up at Lusongia, smacking her before she could attack.

“Try again,” said Spindini. Lusongia slashed her claws into Lombre’s body, causing it to fall into the water, The Surfer recalled it.

“Mudkip! Try using Surf!” Mudkip caused a wave of water to appear, and the Surfer rode it with grace at Lusongia.

“Sing!” Lusongia sang a note, and Mudkip fell asleep in the middle of the wave, causing the Surfer to fall off.

“I concede… you win…”

Spindini rode on to the next Surfer, but noticed that her Lusongia was glowing. “Do you want to evolve yet?” The bird nodded her agreement as she became enveloped in white light, with her wings and claws growing. When the light faded, the Pokémon was now a blue owl with a dark, hooked beak. She spread her wings to reveal a pattern of red vowels instead of musical notes.

Spindini used her Pokédex to find out what Lusongia had become. “Vowlowl, Hooter Pokémon. Usually nocturnal, it rarely chooses to hunt during the day instead to surprise its prey.”

“Wow, these Rota Pokémon are getting interesting.” She guided her Dolphicorn towards the next Surfer, recalling her Vowlowl. She noticed how Chaos was somehow riding their Clauncher across the sea.

The next Surfer rode atop a Buizel. “Go, Marill!” he called.

Spindini sent out her Vulpix, which landed on Dolphicorn’s head. “Freeze-Dry!” Vulpix breathed an icy mist at Marill, but it ate a berry it had stored in its fur to heal itself.

“Now use Belly Drum!” Marill happily drummed on its belly, damaging it but giving it new resolve.

“Don’t let it get you! Freeze-Dry again!”

“Aqua Jet!” Marill released water from its body and charged into Vulpix, knocking her backwards. Her Freeze-Dry still got through and damaged Marill enough to make it fall and have the Surfer recall it.

“Buizel, use Aqua Jet!” But the Buizel didn’t move; the blowback from Freeze-Dry caught it, too, so Spindini moved onto the next Surfer, who rode his Brionne.

Because Vulpix was too tired to battle for now, Spindini sent out Vanna, knowing that this would probably be trouble for her.

“Go, Golisopod!” The large gray isopod was ready to battle. “Aqua Jet!” It charged into Vanna with water trailing behind it, which caused Vanna to reel back.

“Bounce!” Vanna leapt up and divebombed Golisopod, striking it with its fiery ears as it did so. Golisopod fell down and didn’t even try to return to its Pokéball, so the Surfer called it back.

“Brionne, use Scald!” Brionne released a jet of heated water from its mouth. Though Vanna had no problem with the heat, the water put out the flames on her ears, and she closed her eyes as they faded.

“You did great, Vanna!” Spindini called her back. “Use… I don’t know, Horn Attack, Dolphicorn!” The colors on Dolphicorn’s rainbow horn started shifting as it sparkled, and she drove her horn into Brionne’s fin. Before Brionne could be further damaged, the Surfer called it back.

“All you have left is the leader. Go.”

Spindini surfed up to the leader, who was standing on the shell of a Lapras. He was the same man Spindini had asked about where the gym was. “My name is Marcus,” he said, as he took Spindini’s Pokéballs, including the one for Dolphicorn. Losing her mount caused Spindini to tread water as her clothes soaked her to the bone.

“I’m sorry. Here’s your Pokémon back.” He gave Spindini the Pokéballs and sent out her Dolphicorn. Spindini climbed back on top of her. “So, a three-on-three including our mounts?”

“Sure.” Spindini sent out Vowlowl as her first Pokémon.

“Go, Muckbill!” Marcus sent out a platypus that looked similar to Platypup, but was darker blue, stood on its hind legs, and had blue spikes sticking out of the back of its feet. Spindini checked it with her Pokédex.

“Muckbill, Platypus Pokémon. The evolved form of Platypup, this Pokémon has developed poisonous spurs on its legs.”

The first thing Spindini thought was; wow, Al probably has a Muckbill by now! The second thing was; wait a minute, poison? Spindini decided it was time to battle anyway. She ordered, “Vowlowl, Drill Peck!” The owl pivoted her head in a 360-degree circle as she flew into Muckbill’s face and pecked it.

“Use Poison Sting!” Muckbill jabbed a spur into Vowlowl’s wing. Though the bird Pokémon shrugged off the attack itself, her erratic flight pattern after it showed that something was wrong.

“Hit it with Aerial Ace!” Vowlowl moved faster and used her hooked beak to create an incision across Muckbill’s body.

“Aqua Tail!” Muckbill’s flat tail turned into a solid but watery shape, and it slapped Vowlowl across the face with it. Vowlowl scratched it a little as she settled down onto Spindini’s Dolphicorn.

“Finish it off with Fly!” Vowlowl avoided Muckbill’s Mud Bomb by soaring higher, then spread out her wings and flew towards Muckbill with her beak out. Muckbill was knocked back into Marcus’s body and closed its eyes, prompting the leader to call it back.

Spindini then noticed that Vowlowl’s blue feathers were turning a sickly green. The poison was getting to her. “You did great,” she said, recalling Vowlowl.

They threw their Pokéballs at the same time, one sending out Vulpix, the other Gyarados.

“Freeze-Dry, Vulpix!”

“Use Aqua Tail!”

Gyarados thrashed in the sea and slammed its tail towards Vulpix, who scurried so the fin hit her instead of the broader edge. Her icy breath caused Gyarados to reel backwards in shock.

“Now go for an Iron Head!” Gyarados focused on its head, which turned a steely gray color. It headbutted Vulpix as she sprang back into Spindini’s leg.

“Payback!” Spindini ordered as Vulpix rushed up and sank her teeth into Gyarados’s neck. Though it did bleed a little, it still had the will to fight.

“Finish her off with Flamethrower!” Vulpix thought she would melt in the fire, but she simply dripped as she released a chilling breath towards Gyarados, who writhed as it started sinking.

He threw up his hands and ordered his Lapras. “Surf that little Vulpix!” Lapras caused the water to rise up under it and rode the wave towards the fox.

“Vulpix, you really had something going there! Come back!” Spindini recalled Vulpix. “It’s all up to you! Horn Attack, Dolphicorn!”

The dolphin swam up to Lapras and bombarded it with its rainbow horn, stabbing through all four of its fins. Spindini didn’t know where it came from, but she heard a voice in her head, saying “This is for Vulpix…”

“Don’t let this happen to you! Lapras, use Thunderbolt!” Lapras manipulated the electrons in the nearby water to conjure up a jolt of electricity that caused Dolphicorn to cringe, but she kept causing bloody, yet sparkling, holes in Lapras’s body. The plesiosaur’s neck bent down.

“Stop it!” Spindini recalled her mount and fell into the sea again.

“Get out of my gym!” Marcus shouted, throwing the Splash Badge, which looked like an S made of water, and a blue TM marked “55” and “Scald” at her. Spindini caught them and swam away from Marcus, watching Chaos’s battle with him from the beach. Though Rin performed well, an Ice Beam from Lapras caused her to have to be recalled, and Swoobat didn’t do much better. It came down to Clauncher vs. Lapras, and Lapras was winning with its thunderbolts. Suddenly, Clauncher charged up a massive sphere of blue energy!

“It can’t be! A Hysterical Move!” The sphere crashed into Lapras, knocking Marcus off.

“Mutations are amazing!” Chaos rode their Clauncher back to the shore. Both X-Transceivers rang, and they looked into them. It was Professor Fortuna.

“Come to my lab! I have something important for both of you!” They took a Vannawh back to Rota City, with Chaos making sure to tip it with a berry they found in Rin’s tail, and walked into her lab. On the table, instead of a lemur, a rabbit, and a platypus, there sat four bracelets. Two were in black and white, and two were the same green as the puzzleboard’s tiles.

“These are the Mega Ring and Z-Ring. They allow you to use Mega Evolution and Z-Power. Put them on for me.” Spindini and Chaos complied. “You can also have these Z-Crystals.” She handed an orange diamond-shaped crystal with a little flame symbol and a dark gray crystal with cat ears to Spindini, and a green crystal with a leaf symbol and a brown crystal with a fuzzy tail symbol to Chaos. “Firium and Shadeowium Z for you, Spindini, and Grassium and Eevium Z for you, Chaos.”

“Okay, I know what Firium, Grassium, and Eevium Z do, but what about Shadeowium?”

“You’ll have to find out for yourself!” The professor winked. She then gave Chaos a pink, gray, and cream marble, and Spindini a white, green, and red marble.

“Mega Stones!” they shouted. Spindini recognized hers was for Gardevoir and Chaos realized theirs was for Mawile. “Fairy solidarity!” they shouted.

“Want to train Eevee and Shadeow now?” asked Spindini.

“Sure!” They got into Vannawh, and Chaos asked for Torrehex City.

“But they’re only level 8!”

“We can use the old switch-out trick to level them faster.” When they got to the beach, Chaos sent out their Eevee against a Crawdaunt, then pressed the button on the Pokéball to recall him, but before that could happen, something else did.

Eevee pulled back his paw, then scurried towards Crawdaunt, striking it with the paw and breaking his shell. The Pokédex said, “Eevee used a Hysterical Move! Giga Impact!” Chaos watched as Eevee went from level 8 to 15, picking up a small gray stone to prevent any evolution.

Meanwhile, Shadow was stabbing her claws into the sea, incapacitating helpless Magikarp and Feebas whose only attempt at retaliation would be a floppy tackle. Finneon could at least spray some water, but Shadow bit them in their butterfly tails. While Shadow battled, a wave of dark energy surrounded her field of vision. “You can do it!” cheered Spindini.

At the end of the training, Eevee and Shadow were caught up to their other Pokémon, and they stayed at the Boardwalk Hotel, which had bright red walls and a blue sidewalk surrounding it. It was time for the Shocking Words viewing, but there was another Stumpf ad.

This time, he announced, “I have huge plans for Rota. I plan to have a wall built around the region to keep out new trainers. We had an influx of too many these days. See, today there was an incident where a new trainer got a hold of a Dolphicorn, and it almost killed Marcus’s Lapras! This big-league wall will truly help us to reinstate our traditional atmosphere.”

Spindini shuddered at the realization that Alex may have been talking about her Pokémon. She decided to try to console her at the hotel pool, only to see a poster saying, “Don’t let the Solvana Incident happen again. Ban the Dolphicorn,” with “This notice is sponsored by the Stumpf Foundation” printed at the bottom.


	6. This Is Jeopardy

Spindini dreamed of a blue, long-necked water dragon with wing-like fins spread out and a long, snakelike tail. But this time, she also saw her Dolphicorn. “Don’t do it!” Dolphicorn brandished her horn at the dragon.  
A voice echoed in Spindini’s head. “But I must, to save you.”  
“You’ll just get banned!” Spindini forced herself awake. “I’m worried about my Dolphicorn,” said Spindini to Chaos.  
“What’s wrong? I like her a lot!”  
“Well, she keeps trying to stab other Pokémon to protect me, and if she goes too far she may get me in trouble. But she also has telepathy, which is neat.”  
“Just try to break her of the habit. Or replace her with Shadow on your team.”  
“She can’t go on land anyway. I’ll just use Shadow!”  
After strapping the Firium and Grassium Z to their starters and the Eevium and Shadeowium Z to the corresponding Pokémon, they left to go to Bankrotten City, noticing the rocky cliffs lining the area. Maybe the leader was going to train the Rock type? Spindini sure thought so, as she saw Larvitar feasting on pebbles.  
After arriving in the area itself, they noticed how corporate it was. Bank headquarters lined every street. Instead of houses, there were high-rise apartments. And in the middle of it all was a tower, with the name “STUMPF” emblazoned near the top.  
“I have a bad feeling about this place,” said Chaos.  
“Don’t we all?” They decided to look into the cave looming behind the city for Rock Pokémon. A sign near it named the cave as “Jeopardous Cave” and stated that all Pokémon there were levels 31-40. They went into the cave, and Spindini sent out Vanna to light the way.  
Following the flames of her ears, Spindini saw something yellow move. She turned towards it and noticed that it was in fact a Scraggy. So this wasn’t a Rock-type place after all. It was either Fighting or Dark, and considering the city’s name and the darkness of the cave, Dark made more sense. Spindini called to her Rabbitorch, “Try a Bounce!”  
Vanna leapt up, though not very high because of the cave’s low ceiling, and crashed onto Scraggy, who fought back by trying to jump up and kick Vanna, but the shock of the bounce made it unable to do so.  
“All right! Pokéball, go!” Spindini threw a ball at Scraggy, which clicked shut.  
Then, Vanna became covered in light again. Her ears extended into the shape of crescent moons, and her body grew even more, with her limbs becoming thicker and jagged.  
When the light cleared, there stood a dark orange rabbit with curved ears that looked like volcanic rock, rock encasing her arms and legs, a flaming puff for a tail, and a flame shape in the middle of her belly. Spindini checked her Pokédex. “Lunamorph, Moon Rabbit Pokémon. Gaining power from the moon, this Pokémon can channel it into flames or rock.”  
Spindini always thought the moon was beautiful, so she was happy to have a Pokémon that used it as its source of power, though she didn’t quite know how it would work in the day. She directed Vanna over to Chaos. “Wanna try to catch something, too?”  
“Sure!” By the light of Vanna’s tail, Chaos found a Liepard. They sent out their Eevee. “Eevee, Quick Attack it!” Eevee ran towards the catlike Pokémon, which dragged its claws across Eevee’s body.  
“Now use Swift!” Eevee glowed and an array of stars hit Liepard as it was sharpening its claws on a rock. Chaos threw the Pokéball, catching Liepard.  
Spindini sent out her Vulpix. “You need a Fairy move for dealing with Dark Pokémon. Can you learn this one?” Spindini showed her the Cola Blast VM. Vulpix nodded. Spindini held the machine to her head.  
Chaos sent out their entire team to check if any Pokémon but Yanbear could learn the move. Of those Pokémon, Rin was the only one who nodded, so Chaos taught it to her.  
They went back into the imposing city, looking for the gym. They found it, but it was in a place they didn’t really want to go. It was the Stumpfscraper.  
It didn’t look like a gym, more like a corporate lobby. But they soon saw a glass elevator with a sign next to it, saying “1 – Lobby; 2-22 – Residential; 23-44 – Offices; 45 – Gym.” They got in and Spindini pressed 45. The floor numbers ticked by as Spindini shivered at the view of the floors below.  
When they got into the gym, a woman with golden hair and a long black dress said, “I know you! You’re the one who almost killed Marcus’s Lapras!”  
“You know how Dolphicorn can be aggressive. Why not just hate them, instead of me?”  
“All right. You can battle me, but don’t use that abomination. Three badges, right?”  
“Right.”  
Spindini walked up to a Hex Maniac, who sent out a Cacturne silently. Spindini decided to use her Vowlowl to counter its Grass type.  
“Vowlowl, use Drill Peck!” The bird flew towards Cacturne with her head rotating and gave it a few sharp pecks on the arms. But Cacturne seemed to be preparing something.  
“Revenge!” Cacturne slapped Vowlowl around with its needled arms. Spindini ordered, “Wing Attack!”  
“Teeter Dance!” Cacturne moved slowly around, swirling its arms and holding Vowlowl’s attention. She tried to swivel her head around, but the intrigue made it keep swiveling back.  
“Don’t let it get to you! Drill Peck again!”  
“Spiky Shield!”  
However, Vowlowl was so distracted that instead, she slammed a wing into her face. While this did hurt, it did not hurt as much as the extended spikes of the cactus Pokémon, which she avoided having to face.  
“Slash!” This time, Vowlowl had a clear enough mind to dig into Cacturne’s body with her talons, releasing a little water. The maniac recalled her Pokémon.  
“Great work!” Spindini shouted at Vowlowl, who was lighting up again. Her wings spread out and her claws became even larger. When the process finished, Spindini saw a purple falcon with a pointed black beak and claws, and white numbers on its wings. She used her Pokédex to identify it.  
“Falcount, Falcon Pokémon. It swoops down upon a smaller Pokémon and carries it away to its nest.”  
“Interesting,” said Spindini, walking towards the next Hex Maniac. This one sent out an Umbreon. Spindini recalled Falcount and sent out Vanna. This would be a true moon matchup.  
Spindini looked at the moves Vanna learned upon evolving into Lunamorph. Her entire moveset was replaced, with Head Smash, Flare Blitz, High Jump Kick, and Moonlight. Spindini thought about her choice of move, then decided on Head Smash because it had the same-type attack bonus and was more powerful than the other move with it, Flare Blitz. “Vanna, Head Smash!”  
“Toxic,” the maniac commanded. Umbreon released a purple liquid from its pores and launched it at Vanna. Her fur took on a purple tinge as she slammed her crescent ears into Umbreon, the aftershock also hurting her.  
“Now use Moonlight,” said the Hex Maniac. Umbreon channeled lunar energy that it had stored in its body to heal the damage from Vanna’s attack.  
“Moonlight, too!” Vanna’s crescent moon ears took on a glow, which did not get rid of the poison but helped her recover from the recoil of her attack.  
“Foul Play!”  
“High Jump Kick!”  
The two Pokémon ran towards each other, but Vanna was faster. She hopped up with her leg extended and slammed it into Umbreon’s face while descending, sending it careening across the room. The maniac grumpily recalled Umbreon.  
Spindini then looked up at the leader, but saw a bit of light out of the corner of her eye. It was Rin evolving again! Rin’s new form had an even longer ringtail with leaves surrounding each black ring, green stripes down her body, and what looked like one of those laurel crowns from the Hellen region, but was really a part of her body. Spindini and Chaos checked their Pokédexes.  
“Foliamur, Forest Lemur Pokémon. This Pokémon is great at finding berries even outside its natural habitat.”  
Spindini watched as Foliamur picked up a pink berry from the floor then ate it, shrugging off Umbreon’s poison. She then faced the leader.  
“I am Melania Stumpf.”  
“As in Alex?”  
“Yes, I am his current wife. Though we need to reinstate our traditional atmosphere, there were no Dark Pokémon in Kanto and I was always a Dark-Type Gym Leader even before I married him, so he gave me special permission to use Pokémon that he doesn’t want around. When he leads Rota, I will switch to Poison, since there’s a lot of those in Kanto.”  
“Okay, what’s your special rule for this battle?”  
“We battle in the dark.” The red lights illuminating the gym turned off, as if on command. “Each Pokémon will have their accuracy reduced. The factor differs depending on if they are used to the dark or have their own light source, like a Fire Pokémon or a Pokémon with Flash. So there will be a lot of missed moves.”  
Spindini worried about how High Jump Kick may backfire, but Melania healed her Pokémon and sent out a Houndoom, so Spindini sent out Vanna first, since she both resisted Fire and knew another effective move against Houndoom.  
“Use Head Smash!”  
“Nasty Plot, Houndoom!” Houndoom closed its eyes and growled softly. Vanna charged at the hound, but ended up missing.  
“Try another Head Smash!” This time, her ears hit their mark, right in Houndoom’s body, and cut it a little with their edges. The shape of Houndoom turned into a sleeker, bipedal, more wolflike shape with a red ponytail. “Zoroark?”  
“Night Daze!” Zoroark barked, sending out a wave of dark energy. The wave ended up shocking Vanna.  
“Okay, now use Moonlight!” Vanna’s ears lit up again as she re-energized herself.  
“Agility!” Zoroark ran around in a circle, building up speed.  
“Finish it off with Flare Blitz!” Vanna scurried towards Zoroark, smashing into it while covered in flames. Zoroark fell to the ground and Melania called her back.  
“Now it’s time for the real Houndoom.” She let Houndoom out.  
“Head Smash!” called Spindini. Vanna ended up missing it by a little.  
“Use Dark Pulse!” Houndoom shot a wave of dark energy into Vanna, making her drop to the ground.  
“Great job, Vanna.” Spindini recalled her and sent out Falcount. “Brave Bird, now!”  
“You sure like recoil moves. Does that say anything about you?”  
“No. That’s Chaos’s thing,” Spindini said as Falcount divebombed Houndoom.  
“Fire Blast!” Houndoom released a torrent of fire, but none of it hit Falcount, who had flown out of its reach.  
Spindini looked at Falcount’s moves and saw something surprising. “Brick Break!” Falcount flew in up close to Houndoom and slapped it around with her wings.  
“Fire Blast again!” This time, Houndoom hit, and hit hard. Falcount was left twitching and without her feathers. Spindini recalled her sadly.  
“Go, Shadow!” The adorable cat was surrounded in a dark aura that enveloped the whole field. “Use Slash!”  
“Dark Pulse!” The pulse passed by Shadow as the aura obscured Houndoom’s view. Shadow lunged in and extended her claws, then slashed Houndoom across the chest.  
“Come back, Houndoom.” Melania recalled her Pokémon and sent out Scrafty. “Use High Jump Kick!” she called.  
Scrafty saw through Shadow’s aura and leapt up, kicking her on the way down. Shadow was fragile enough to fall to it. “Go, Scraggy!” Scraggy glared at the evolved form of him, growling in anger.  
“Little unevolved wimp…”  
“Scrag!” Scraggy was not happy with that comment. He almost though of attacking Melania instead of his evolution, but restrained himself.  
“High Jump Kick him!”  
“Fake Out!” After seeing the Egg move with an asterisk next to it, Spindini knew what to order. Scraggy hit Scrafty with his tail, stopping him from using any attack.  
After Scrafty recovered, Melania called, “Dragon Dance!” Scrafty became encased in a purple aura as he stomped his feet.  
“This is your time! Use Foul Play!” Scraggy sneaked up behind Scrafty and punched him under his loose skin.  
“Now finish him off with High Jump Kick!” they both called. Both Pokémon jumped with outstretched feet and crashed into each other. They were both out cold when the dust cleared.  
Spindini sent out her Vulpix, and Melania her Absol. The Absol had a lens with a red dot in the middle over its eye. That was the Scope Lens, and made critical hits more likely. If the Pokémon was lucky enough, it could do a lot of damage.  
“Curse!” Absol whispered some words to itself and a dark wave washed over it.  
“Ice Beam!” Vulpix shot an icy ray from her mouth, but it missed its intended target.  
“Night Slash, now!” called Melania, as Absol used its horn to slash Vulpix lengthwise, making her bleed.  
“Use Cola Blast!” Vulpix let the sweet fluid come swirling from her mouth, and the fairy energy in it brought Absol to the ground. Melania frowned and handed over a black letter D with spikes on its left edge. “The Doom Badge.” Then, she gave Spindini a black TM. “Night Slash.”  
Spindini’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness by now, so she watched Chaos battle Melania. They knew about the Zoroark illusion, so they had an advantage. Yanbear’s Cola Blast got through Zoroark, but Houndoom took him out. Swoobat never even stood a chance, as her main attack was Stored Power. Rin did well, using the Brick Break she had learned by level, but Absol took her down with a critical Night Slash.  
“Go, Eevee!” Chaos knew that Eevee had a chance of pulling out the right move just when they needed it. “Just try to win! Do whatever it takes!”  
Eevee glowed with a moon-like light and shot a ray of light from his body. “Eevee used Moonblast!” called the Pokédex.  
“A Hysterical Move? I have to step it up! Use Night Slash!” Absol’s horn struck Eevee’s body, causing a gash in it.  
“Unleash your Z-Power! Extreme Evoboost, now!” Phantom images of all Eevee’s evolutions surrounded him, giving him extra power in all his capabilities.  
“Night Slash again!” Absol focused hard with the lens and stabbed its horn right through Eevee’s body. Eevee wailed in pain and tried to escape, but he was impaled. Absol swung Eevee around like a trophy.  
“I guess I win!” called Melania.  
“Eev eev vee!” Eevee called, with the emphasis that a human would use for “Not so fast!” He levitated off of Absol’s horn and hung in the air. The hole in his body grew over as he became covered in white light. His ears, limbs, and tail elongated, and he became fluffier.  
When the light dissipated, Eevee looked completely different. He wasn’t an Eevee anymore. His legs had tufts of fluff growing off their ankles, his tail was long and flexible, and his ruff of fur surrounded his head completely. 20 little elemental orbs ringed his waist, with the white Normal orb already lit.  
Chaos’s Pokédex said, “Eeveeon, Multitype Pokémon. This Normal evolution of Eevee can turn into any type as it uses a move of that type, or right before an opposing move hits it, using its Ability, Protean Maxima. It is also known to evolve when an Eevee is about to die, and lights up an orb on its waist depending on its type.” Its Normal orb was already lit, representing that being its base type.  
“I think I like Eeveeon. Use Giga Impact!”  
“Veeon!” Eeveeon rammed his head into Absol, knocking it to the floor. Melania recalled it again and gave Chaos the badge and TM.  
After Chaos won, Spindini spoke up. “I don’t think Alex is right for you. He won’t let you follow your true passion for having a Dark gym when he becomes leader. I know that you almost killed Eevee, but you evolved him too, and Dark gyms are so unique.”  
“But Alex is so well-spoken and rich. He got where he was on a small loan of 1,000,000. I think of him as my god-emperor.”  
“There is no god, and if there was, it would be a Pokémon, not a man!” said Z3rc. They were a convinced atheist, in fact.  
“Whatever. I’m still sticking with him.”  
Spindini and Chaos left the gym. When they got to the door, a group of six men wearing red baseball caps ambushed Spindini. “We heard what you said about Stumpf! That’s not funny!”  
“Don’t you believe in freedom of speech?”  
“You should respect an Elite Four member!” They each took one of Spindini’s Pokéballs; Shadow, Vanna, the defeathered Falcount, Vulpix, Dolphicorn, and Scraggy were all gone.  
“I won’t let this happen to you! Go, Eeveeon!” Chaos sent out their Pokémon.  
“One on six won’t get you anywhere, especially when you’re not a genwunner!” They sent out their Pokémon. They were Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Mewtwo, Mew, and Dragonite. The legendary Pokémon all had dark stripes all over them.  
“Eeveeon, use your Z-Power!”  
“Quick, ambush it!” the men called.  
Before any Pokémon could attack, a vacuum with cat ears turned into a black hole and sucked in the men, making the Pokéballs fall to the ground. Spindini picked them up as the Pokémon retreated, then pointed her Pokédex at the vacuum.  
“Rotasweep, Vacuum Cat Pokémon. They roam Rota and suck up garbage. A lot of Rotan houses have these.”  
“The Pokédex is right, Spindini,” said Chaos. “Those Stumpf supporters were garbage!”  
They laughed to themselves, but Spindini realized how damaged Falcount was. She went to the Pokémon Center, holding her outside of her Pokéball. “Could you heal this one?”  
The nurse looked at the burn scars on the bird. “Yes, but it’ll take a long time. I’ll store her in your PC when I’m done.”  
The nurse recalled her into the Pokéball and put it in the machine. While she was waiting, Spindini sent out Scraggy. “Why were you so upset with your evolution?”  
“Scraggy scrag.”  
“You’re tired of being looked down upon in the caves because you don’t want to evolve. Okay.”  
“Scraggy! Scrag scrag scraggy.”  
“A leader who hates you? They must value evolution a lot!”  
Finally, the nurse gave back the Pokéball. “She’s fine, but you wouldn’t want to use her for a while.”  
“Thank you.” Spindini turned her into data and stored her in the PC.  
They stayed one night at the Nabisco Hotel. Though it was expensive, Spindini’s retirement savings were more than enough to cover it. Spindini ended up teaching Night Slash to her Vulpix, and Chaos taught it to their Liepard.


	7. Sylvan

Spindini’s dragon dream that night was about a dark gray, almost black dragon with horns like a Whimsicott’s but bony and dark with red tips, bat wings that looked almost soaked in blood, an arrowhead tail tip, and glowing red eyes. It growled, “REINSTATE OUR TRADITIONAL ATMOSPHERE!”

Spindini woke up immediately. “Oh, great, I’m having Stumpf dreams now.”

“I didn’t have any dreams at all. I just stayed up drinking Coke. It’s my life, all right?”

“But you may be tired during the day!”

“Whatever.”

They took a Vanawe back to Rota City, knowing that Verdasept City would be the next stop. Spindini let Vulpix out. “Do you want to evolve now? You know Ice Beam, and you don’t really need any other level-up moves.”

“Vul-pix!”

“Okay!” Spindini carried her into the Rotamarket and found a vendor selling evolution stones. The Ice Stone had a tag that said 1200, so Spindini handed over the 1200 and picked up the stone. “Thank you!”

Spindini held the Ice Stone to Vulpix, and she became Ninetales, sparkling with fairy energy. “You’re so adorable!” Spindini hugged her Ninetales.

She then noticed someone wearing a dark cloak that hid their face in shadow. A voice emanated from the person, saying “Would you like a Splicer?” A gray arrowhead sat on their table.

“Like those Kyurem things? Sure!”

“That’ll be 2000.” Spindini gave the 2000 to the mysterious figure and picked up the splicer. She tried to see what it would do with Vanna and Ninetales, but they did not fuse. Maybe it just didn’t work for those Pokémon, but she showed it to Chaos anyway.

“I found a DNA Splicer!”

“Does it work with any of your Pokémon?”

“Not that I know of.”

“I heard the legend of Cathulhu. This many-tentacled cat can be spliced with a lot of Pokémon.”

“Well, it’s only a legend.”

“But it could be real!”

They then turned their attention to Weird Al, who was walking a Pokémon they didn’t know. It looked like Eevee, but it had the body of an accordion. Spindini checked it out using the Pokédex.

“Accordeon, Mewling Pokémon. When stretched and squeezed, it makes accordion noises and mew noises.”

“How cute! To think that you could have evolved your Eevee into this instead.”

“I don’t like Weird Al as much as you do, so I still think Eeveeon is better.”

They walked down the verdant landscape of Route Ω5, looking at the beautiful flower Pokémon like Bellossom and Florges. Then, they got into Verdasept City. It looked a bit like Fortree City in Hoenn, but the Pokémon Center and Mart were also tree-based, and the ground of the city was a flower garden.

A sign pointed to Verdasept Forest, saying that the Pokémon were all levels 41-50. Spindini and Chaos decided they were prepared for those levels, so they went in.

The first Pokémon Spindini saw was a brown squirrel-like Pokémon, with a mouth full of large, sharp teeth. She used her Pokédex to identify it. “Ravager, Squirrel Shark Pokémon. It likes to bite on nuts and crack them.”

Spindini giggled and sent out Shadow. “Use Night Slash!” Shadow clawslashed Ravager’s bushy tail. Spindini threw a Pokéball at the squirrel, but a hand deflected it back at Spindini. Fortunately, the ball knew not to catch humans.

“That’s my Pokémon!” screeched a voice. It belonged to a woman with wild brown hair full of twigs and leaves, wearing shorts and a bikini top made from dry leaves and riding a tiger-like Pokémon. She seemed to have bite marks on her legs, which made Spindini all the more willing to believe that Ravager was hers.

“Who are you?” asked Spindini.

“I’m Sylvanna. I train my Ravager in this forest for my own purposes.”

“What are your purposes?”

“You know how Bob Barker is always going on about ‘spay and neuter your pet Pokémon’? Well, Ravager neuters humans.”

“Quite the noble cause.”

“Agreed,” chimed in Chaos.

“What’s that Pokémon you’re riding?” asked Spindini.

“Her name is Tigris, and she’s a Water/Grass Tiger Pokémon with water powers. Her signature move is Aqua Fang.”

Spindini and Chaos looked for more Pokémon. Though the forest was associated with the Grass type, it was also home to many bugs, as Spindini found out when a Fuzzoom perched on her hand.

“Do you want to stay with me?” asked Spindini. Fuzzoom cheerfully said, “Fuzz fuzz!”

“All right! You still need to get into this ball for registration purposes.” Spindini opened up a Pokéball and Fuzzoom flew into it.

Meanwhile, Chaos was looking for a Pokémon. All they saw was a palm tree, but it moved a bit. It was actually a Tropius! “Tropius!” it shouted.

“Yes, I was the one you carried to Rota! Do you want to stay with me?”

“Trop trop.” It angled its head down.

“I forgot, you’re a ride Pokémon, so you can’t be caught.” Chaos then ran into a Tsareena. They sent out Clauncher, figuring he needed some levels, then called him back immediately. “Go, Rin!” he called. “Tail Slap, go!”

Rin used her long tail to slap Tsareena around, but the mangosteen Pokémon kicked her back. Chaos threw a Pokéball at Tsareena, which clicked shut immediately.

Soon, Clauncher popped out of his Pokéball. His claw grew until it became larger than its body. He was now a Clawitzer.

“All right! Now he can use all types of pulses!” shouted Chaos.

Spindini saw a lake in the distance, and sent Dolphicorn out into the lake.

“What is it?” Dolphicorn asked telepathically.

“You need to not be as violent when you think I’m threatened. That issue almost got your entire species banned!”

“But all of us do it and no one complains.”

“You’ll have to refrain from it during gym battles. The League is very strict.”

“Then how am I supposed to win?”

“I’ll teach you some special attacks.” Spindini overwrote Horn Attack with Cola Blast, Fury Attack with Scald, and Horn Drill with Ice Beam. Recover was a safe move, so it was left on the set.

“I’ll try to use those well.” Spindini recalled Dolphicorn.

Chaos was also teaching their Eeveeon moves. The Pokémon learned Cola Blast, Ice Beam, Night Slash, and Aerial Ace.

Spindini went back to the city with Chaos. They noticed that the gym was the only building on the ground level, so they went in. The sign said, “Verdasept Gym/Rota Safari”.

Spindini and Chaos were faced with two doors. One had a window showing a wide open outdoor space, and one had a window showing a collection of platforms with vines between them. They chose the one leading to the platforms, assuming it was the gym.

A man asked “How many badges?” but he did not look like the leader at all. He had slick black hair and a suit with dark blue sleeves and red and purple stripes down its length. Spindini and Chaos simply said, “Four.”

Spindini grabbed a vine and swung over to the first platform, where she found an Aroma Lady. “Go, Breloom!” shouted the lady.

“Ninetales, go!” A dual type advantage? This would be easy! “Use Ice Beam!”

“Breloom, Spore!” The mushroom Pokémon released a cluster of white spores from its head, and Ninetales just couldn’t help but breathe them in.

The lady then called, “Substitute!” Breloom breathed in and released a gray Rhydon doll made of hard light.

Spindini recalled her Ninetales and sent out Vanna. “Use Flare Blitz!” The substitute disintegrated.

“Focus Punch!” After charging for a while, Breloom extended its fist and punched Vanna, smashing one of her ears.

“Another Flare Blitz!” Vanna harshly tackled Breloom while covered in flames, singing its cap. The Aroma Lady called Breloom into its ball then sent out Lurantis.

“Moonlight, Vanna!” Vanna shone with a glowing light that restored her ear to normal.

“Use Solar Blade!” Lurantis soaked up solar energy from the skylight into one of its blades.

“Quick, Flare Blitz again!” Vanna charged at Lurantis, flames blazing. Lurantis’s blade burned too much for it to use Solar Blade, and the lady returned it.

“Why didn’t I get that Superpower tutor?” she lamented.

Spindini let her Ninetales out while swinging on the next vines to allow her some time to wake up. When she did, she jumped across the platforms. They kept moving until they ran into a Gardener.

“Go, Whimsicott!” he called.

“Ninetales, use Ice Beam!”

“Stun Spore!” Whimsicott took the initiative to release its spores before the beam could reach it, causing Ninetales’s muscles to stiffen. She couldn’t even charge up a beam for the time being.

“Now use Giga Drain!”

“Ice Beam!” Orbs of white floated from Ninetales to Whimsicott as it collected energy. This time, the beam landed and froze Whimsicott’s cotton puffs.

 “Keep using Giga Drain!” The process repeated and the ice cleared from the cotton.

“Why don’t you try using Cola Blast but with chunks of ice in it?” Ninetales complied, and the ice chunks pierced Whimsicott’s body to the point that it had to be removed from battle.

“Go, Lilligant!” the gardener called. “Lilligant, use Growth!”

The flower on Lilligant’s head grew to one-and-a-half times its size. “Use Ice Beam!” Unfortunately, Ninetales was too stiff to charge up another one.

“Try a Petal Dance!” Lilligant spun around into Ninetales, surrounded by petals, knocking her down. Spindini recalled Ninetales and sent in Fuzzoom.

“Use Signal Beam!” Fuzzoom released two orange beams from her eyes, which pierced into Lilligant’s skirt. The Grass-type kept dancing, but it did not faze Fuzzoom at all.

“Bug Buzz!” Fuzzoom oscillated her wings, releasing sound waves into Lilligant’s flower. It broke from the pressure of the waves, tiring out Lilligant.

“You win,” said the gardener.

“Good job, Fuzzy!” She let Fuzzoom back into her ball and swung a few more times, up to the same man in the striped suit.

“I am Stefan,” he said. “Here, we battle a different way. We do not command our Pokémon. It can be very random, so if this was a video game you would probably save here. But this isn’t a video game!” He showed four Pokéballs, one of which was a Net Ball. “Four-on-four?”

“Sure.” She sent out Vanna.

“Go, Foliamur!”

Vanna ran towards the lemur, but before she could get close, it smacked her with its ringtail, turned metallic temporarily. Vanna wasn’t moved. She coated herself in flames and spun towards Foliamur, who reacted by crunching Vanna’s ear. Vanna wailed in pain, but was able to glow with the lunar light that kept her in the game. She smashed her ears into Foliamur, and it was over for the lemur.

Stefan confidently called Foliamur back. He then held up a Net Ball. “Now, look at this net that I just found. When I say go, be ready to throw! Go!” He threw the Net Ball, letting out Ludicolo.

And with one Hydro Pump, Vanna’s flames died out. Spindini recalled her. She deliberated between her Pokémon, and decided to use Scraggy. He needed a confidence boost anyway.

Scraggy’s skin suddenly hardened. Ludicolo slammed a fist into Scraggy, sapping energy from him. Scraggy then leaped while spinning his foot around, pelting Ludicolo in the face. Ludicolo sapped the energy from Scraggy in the form of white orbs, but Scraggy retaliated by sinking his teeth into Ludicolo’s leaf. Ludicolo spun back with swirling eyes and Robbie called him back.

“Now watch and learn, here’s the deal! He’ll slip and slide on this banana peel!” Stefan called out his Tropius. This was the species that had brought Chaos into her life, and it caused a wave of air using one of its leaves, bringing Scraggy to the ground.

Spindini exchanged Scraggy for Ninetales. Tropius started off by blasting bananas towards the fox. However, a quick beam of ice from Ninetales ended Tropius’ reign immediately.

“What are you doing?” shouted Stefan.

“We are number one!” Stefan finally sent out a Bulbasaur. In its bulb was an odd purple stone.

Ninetales released some ice from her tails, but it was not enough to take out Bulbasaur. It responded by shooting purple sludge from its bulb, which left Ninetales feeling too sick to continue.

“Go, Fuzzy!” Fuzzoom was let out of her ball. She shot sound waves from her wings. Bulbasaur responded by showering her with a wave of yellow spores. They stuck into her fuzzy wings and caused her flight to be impaired.

When Fuzzy tried to flap her wings to get something going, she failed, and Bulbasaur took the opportunity to absorb energy from the environment. It released the energy as three beams; one of fire, one of ice, and one of lightning. This Tri Attack made Fuzzy crash into a plant growing in the gym.

Fuzzy strained her wings and finally used them to shoot a wave of harsh air into Bulbasaur, knocking it out.

“Here’s your badge. You were truly number one.” Stefan gave Spindini a green V that looked like a vine, with a curl on the right side. “Oh, have this TM, too. It’s Energy Ball.” He handed a green disk to Spindini.

Chaos didn’t have the advantage of a Bug type, but their Flying type was still in commission. When Rin battled the other Foliamur, she seemed to be extremely passionate about beating up on it. It then came down to Eeveeon vs. Bulbasaur, and Eeveeon had the urge to use Flame Claw.

“What’s up with those Hysterical Moves?” asked Stefan, handing over the badge and TM.

Chaos couldn’t explain. They were fast asleep. Spindini pressed the button on the ball to recall Eeveeon, and carried Chaos out of the building. She ran into the Pokémon Center.

“I’m sorry. That’s a human,” said the nurse.

“Is there anywhere they can sleep for now?”

“Well, there’s the Lazy Inn, but it only has one room.”

Spindini walked to the Lazy Inn, dragging Chaos behind her. She said to the receptionist, “Are you booked?”

“Yes. This pink-haired girl came in just before you and said she needed to be near Stefan so she had to stay here.”

“Oh.”

“But if you really need to sleep, there are tents for sale at the local Pokémart. You can go camping in the forest!”

“There’s no TV in the forest, but they do need their rest…”

Spindini walked into the Pokémart and bought an orange tent for 2600. She had Vanna help her carry the tent, since she was dragging Chaos. Spindini set up shop near the lake, and saw Sylvanna’s tiger.

“Want me to help protect you?” said Sylvanna.

“Sure?”

“I just heard that you were in trouble because your Dolphicorn was out of control. I think some League supporters may find and attack you.”

“Thank you for helping me. I’m just here because my friend Chaos stayed up late last night so they need to sleep a little.”

Spindini and Sylvanna watched over Chaos as they slept, though Spindini often turned to reading a Pokémon strategy article on her X-Transceiver. After three hours, Chaos was awake.

“What time is it?” they asked.

Spindini checked her X-Transceiver. “It’s 19:21.”

“No it’s not, it’s 2080,” they giggled.

 “That’s my Chaos! Why do you think Rin was so upset in the battle?”

“Let’s ask her.” Chaos let Rin out.

“Lia?”

“We just wanted to know why you were so upset with the other Foliamur,” said Chaos.

“Mur mur liamur.”

“So you knew him before?”

“Folia.”

“Why do you hate him?”

“Foliamur lia liamur.”

“He thought you were a boy when you were a little Swingtail, but you knew you were a girl. That makes sense! There are people like that, too.”

“Lia?”

“Yes, they’re called transgender. There’s also non-binary, like me. You know how Pokémon like Magnemite and Starmie don’t really have a gender system?”

“Folia.”

“Well, when I was a little Chaos, they all called me a boy because I was shaped like one according to them. I wanted to be like Starmie and opt out entirely, if that makes sense.”

“Mur!”

“Okay!” Chaos recalled Rin. “You know, Spindini, I’d think you were attractive if you were younger.”

“Oddly enough, I’d think you were attractive if you were older. I have a younger clone of myself, but I don’t know where they are right now. You could hope to find them someday.”

“Sounds like a plan. Sylvanna isn’t half bad either.”

Sylvanna blushed and giggled. “I’m flattered.”

Spindini viewed the Shocking Words episode using her X-Transceiver, and after it was over, they all fell asleep. Spindini and Chaos in the tent, and Sylvanna curled up on the ground with Tigris.


	8. The Floor Is Lava

Spindini's latest dream featured a green dragon that was basically a winged serpent. It had vines curling around it, slick green wings with flowers growing on them, a large leaf at the end of its tail, and a wooden head. She saw it lay itself vertically, and growl out "I am number one!"

She awoke in the forest to find that her Pokédex and X-Transceiver were both gone. "Oh no!" she shouted, waking up Chaos.

"What is it?"

"I can't find my devices!"

Chaos looked around, then said, "That's weird. Neither can I."

"Maybe a Stumpf supporter stole them in the night?"

"If I remember correctly, we can try to page them from our PC."

They went back into the city to use the PC in the Pokémon Center, and chose the option to "Find My Pokédex". A map of Rota showed up, with Spindini's Pokédex located at the Jeopardous Cave.

"I guess we'll just have to go there," said Chaos. They hailed a Vanawe and went back to Bankrotten City, then delved into the Jeopardous Cave with Vanna's tail lighting the way.

They descended the steps of the cave, looking hard for anything that may be suspicious. Stalactites were everywhere, but those were normal. Then, Spindini noticed a gathering of six men in red baseball caps. Did Stumpf supporters cause this? And how did they get out of Rotasweep's vortex?

Spindini pointed Vanna towards them and found them with the devices. She ran up to them and shouted, "Did you take my Pokédex? And my X-Transceiver?"

"Yes, and you won't have them back! A shame 2080's technology has made them completely indestructible.." said one man.

"You deserved it for almost killing Lapras!" said another.

"Whatever. Just give them back."

"We will never do that!" One of them grabbed hold of the Pokédexes and X-transceivers and tossed them down a pit in the cave. "You'll never get them, since we heard a little bit about you getting a taste of your own medicine with your Falcount!"

"Oh, she's fully healed now."

"Is she in your party?"

Spindini sent out six of her Pokémon. Shadow, Vanna, Ninetales, Dolphicorn (Spindini quickly recalled her to avoid her being harmed), Scraggy, and Fuzzy. "No."

"Well, you can't get her now, since you lost your X-Transceiver!"

"Vanna, go down there and look for our devices. Then bring them back up!"

"Luna!" Vanna hopped down into the pit.

"Get her!" Three of them sent out the three legendary birds to keep Vanna from coming back up, but she leapt up, smashed her rocky ears into all three, and landed a High Jump Kick on the six men as she revealed the luckily indestructible devices.

While they were incapacitated, Spindini and Chaos got out of the cave.

"We were lucky that 2080's technology stopped them from completely destroying them. It would have been somewhat hard for us to get them back if they were.

They left for Voctano City, crossing Route Ω6 as they did. This route was an ashy one, and just like the one in Hoenn, it had a colony of Spinda, and what looked like a baby Spinda with pink, heart-shaped spots.

Chaos decided to check them in their Pokédex. It said, "Spindini, Baby Panda Pokémon. This Pokémon trains with Spinda to Teeter Dance like it."

"Did you name yourself after Spindini?"

"No, I just made it up from the word spin. Some of the game shows I like to watch have wheels!"

They arrived at Voctano City, which was more of a town. It was in the shadow of a large volcano, and had houses that appeared to be made from volcanic rock.

Looking up at the volcano, Spindini and Chaos investigated the area around it. They saw a sign saying, "Flaming Peak. All Pokémon beyond this point are levels 51-60."

Spindini saw a puddle of lava with a fox face-down in it. The tail was too dark to be from the Fennekin line, and it was only one tail, so it couldn't be Vulpix either. The only answer was that it was the Pokémon that could have given Will-O-Wisp to Vulpix. Floorfox!

But she was out of Pokéballs, so she bought three Ultra Balls for her and three for Chaos at the Pokémart. Then, she went back to where Floorfox was. "Go, Ninetales! Use Dazzling Gleam!"

Ninetales sparkled with a fairy light and the sparkles hit Floorfox, knocking it out of the lava. It breathed a bundle of flames towards Ninetales, causing her to drip.

Spindini decided to throw the Ultra Ball at Floorfox at this time, catching it and sending it to the PC. She watched as Chaos found a Pokémon that looked strange. It had the head of a Lileep, two sunken-in eyes with tentacles coming off of them like a flower, but the magma slug body of a Slugma. "What's this?" Chaos used the Pokédex.

"Ligma, Lava Lily Pokémon. It likes hiding in volcanic rocks and releasing acid at its prey."

"Eeveeon, use Cola Blast!" The light pink Fairy orb glowed, and Eeveeon released some soda from his body. Chaos threw an Ultra Ball at the soda-splashed Ligma, catching it and adding its typing to their Pokédex.

"Rock/Grass/Fire? Interesting. This should be the first Pokémon that shares the Grass and Fire types."

They walked up into the gym, which was full of lights and sounds from the arcade games in it, including one called Spin and Win. A sign on the wall said, "Flare Badge: 27,000 Tickets OR Beat Gym".

"We've been going to the gyms so far, better keep doing it," said Spindini.

"But I wanted to play Cyclone!"

Spindini used her X-Transceiver to switch out Fuzzoom for Falcount and Ninetales for Floorfox, since she didn't want the liability of weaknesses. She also decided she was ready to use Dolphicorn again as she walked into the gym area. The first trainer she saw was a Kindler.

"Talonflame, go!" he shouted, sending out the fiery bird. Spindini sent out Vanna in response, because of her Rock type.

"Use Head Smash!"

"Brave Bird!" Talonflame struck first, charging into the rabbit with its wings out, but that did little damage. Vanna smashing her ears into the bird brought it down immediately, though. Then, Spindini noticed the experience was enough to get Vanna to Level 50. "Halfway to 100," she said. But when Vanna started glowing, she was surprised. No Pokémon evolved more than twice.

Her body bent into the human-like shape mostly associated with Lopunny. When the process was complete, a beautiful new rabbit stood before Spindini. She had beautiful curves and long legs, just like Vanna Blank.

When Spindini checked the Pokédex, it said, "Chaonna, Chaos Rabbit Pokémon. Lures other Pokémon like Lucario in with its beauty then attacks."

Chaonna had the same damaging moves, but Moonlight was replaced with Blaze Up. Spindini thought that sounded more interesting.

"Go, Turtonator!" shouted the Kindler. "Ready your Revenge!"

"Blaze Up!" Vanna surrounded herself in a flaming aura that seemed to make her more powerful. When Turtonator rammed its legs into Vanna, the fact that Turtonator wasn't hit made it less damaging.

"Now use Head Smash!" Vanna swung her head into Turtonator's shell, cracking it, as Blaze Up increased the user's Attack and Critical Hit ratio. The Kindler was forced to call it back.

Spindini's next battle with a Firebreather started with him sending out Darmanitan. Since Vanna worked so well for her, she kept her in.

"Use Head Smash!" Vanna crashed into Darmanitan with her ears.

"Rock Slide!" Darmanitan released lava and hardened it into rocks, then tossed them at Vanna, incapacitating her as she wailed in pain.

"There you go, Vanna," Spindini said as she recalled the rabbit. "Go, Floorfox!" Spindini noticed that the fox's front half was covered in white fur.

Did Floorfox know anything besides Fire and Ice moves? She checked her Pokédex and found that the Pokémon knew Wild Charge for some reason. Probably an Egg Move from a Pyroar.

"Wild Charge, now!" Floorfox surrounded herself in electricity and dashed towards Darmanitan.

"Fire Punch!" Darmanitan slammed a flaming fist into Floorfox, but she shed her Ice type to absorb the attack, changing her white fur into orange.

"Now use Tail Slap!" Floorfox used her bushy tail to slap Darmanitan around, leaving it too tired to battle anymore. The Firebreather called back Darmanitan and sent out Camerupt.

"Floorfox, Icicle Crash!" She regained her Ice type to make better use of the move as she called down icicles to puncture Camerupt. They pierced through its volcano humps.

"Camerupt, Earthquake!" The ground in the arena shook, throwing Floorfox off balance.

"Use Icicle Crash again!" Floorfox surrounded herself with icicles and tackled Camerupt directly, leaving it bleeding from the side. The Firebreather decided it was time to hand Spindini the victory.

At the end of the gym, Spindini saw a beautiful woman with layers of red and orange hair. She wore orange flare pants and a yellow shirt with a jagged neckline. "I am Laverne. A passion burns within me for battling… and for playing ticket redemption games."

"That's a strange combination of interests, but I shouldn't be talking, since I like game shows."

Laverne softly healed Spindini's Pokémon, then gave them back. "The rules are that berries are scattered all over this volcano-like field. Eating one immediately gives your Pokémon the effect of it, so Liechi will raise Attack by one stage even if your Pokémon eats it at full health. Some berries are in lava pools, so Pokémon that can survive in them have an advantage. Got it?"

"Yes."

"All right then. This will be a five-on-five. Chaonna, go."

Spindini sent out her Chaonna as well.

"Blaze Up!" shouted Spindini.

"I'm going to Blaze Up, too." Both of their Chaonna were surrounded by flames.

"So it's probably going to come down to whoever can Head Smash the most times, so I'll start it. Vanna, Head Smash!"

"You too, Chaonna!"

They slammed their rocky ears into each other, breaking both sets of them.

"What does this mean?" shouted Spindini.

"From what I understand, our Head Smashes will no longer be the Rock type." Chaos heard that. They looked at the green-blue orb on Eeveeon. "So, they're ?-type now!" they said. "I hear that's a type with no weaknesses nor resistances."

"All right then. Use High Jump Kick!"

"High Jump Kick in response!"

They both jumped at the same time, then their feet crashed into each other. This was just like watching a Pokémon in a mirror. And they mirrored each other so perfectly that they knocked each other out at the same time.

"I hope we send out different Pokémon this time. Go, Floorfox!" shouted Spindini.

"I'll take Arcanine."

"Floorfox, Wild Charge!"

"Extreme Speed, Arcanine!" Arcanine charged into Floorfox while running at high speed, but Floorfox was surrounding herself in electricity already. She shocked Arcanine a little then tackled it hard while covered in electricity.

"Good, now try a Close Combat!" Floorfox couldn't relinquish her Ice type for this; it only worked when she was planning to absorb a Fire move. Arcanine ran up to Floorfox and kicked her hard, causing bruises. Spindini sadly called Floorfox back, watching Arcanine run into lava and munch on a Sitrus Berry.

She sent out Falcount to replace it, then ordered a Brave Bird. Falcount flew into Arcanine's face, scratching it hard with talons and beak.

"Wild Charge!" Arcanine did the same thing as Floorfox, rendering itself covered in electricity then tackling Falcount down. Before Spindini could respond, Laverne ordered an Extreme Speed, leaving Falcount on the ground.

"Shadow, go!" Spindini sent out her faithful pet. She was behind, but Shadow was extremely adorable. Shadow released her signature dark aura over the arena, getting in Arcanine's eyes but making it easier to see for Shadow. While Arcanine wasn't looking, Shadow grabbed a Starf Berry, which made her faster.

Spindini checked her Pokédex and noticed a new move on Shadow. "Shadow Rush? What does that do? Use it now!" Shadow charged at Arcanine and clawslashed it until it bled.

"You did great, Arcanine. Now it's time for Blaziken," Laverne said as she switched the two Pokémon. "Blaziken, High Jump Kick."

"Shadow, use Aerial Ace!" Shadow scurried up to Blaziken, jumped, and clawslashed it. Blaziken tried to kick Shadow, but the darkness made it hard to even see Shadow, so Blaziken crashed into the ground. It could not get up, so Laverne called it back.

"Here's Volcarona." She sent out the fire moth.

"Shadow Rush again!" Shadow held Volcarona in her mouth and clawslashed it.

"Bug Buzz." The sound waves generated by Volcarona's wings caused Shadow to cower, but she held on.

"Now use Aerial Ace!" While Shadow prepared the attack, Volcarona found a Petaya Berry.

"Fiery Dance." Shadow leapt and slashed Volcarona, yet she got caught in the fire generated by the dance. Shadow's burning fur made Spindini call her back, but the good thing was that Laverne's Volcarona was also done for.

"Go for it, Magmortar." Laverne sent out the Pokémon.

"You can do it, Dolphicorn! Use Scald!" Though she could not move, Dolphicorn still released a jet of heated water towards Magmortar, putting out the flames on its head.

"I guess you win," said Laverne, calling Magmortar back. She gave Spindini a metallic letter L that looked exactly like the Team Flare logo but it was an L instead. "You won, even though I handed out the L. This is the Lava Badge." She also gave Spindini an orange TM. "Use Flamethrower wisely."

"So, you aren't upset with me for using Dolphicorn?"

"Why would I be? It's just Alex and his supporters that want to ban it. I know it's a great part of the Rotan ecosystem, even though it's my weakness."

"We need to stop Alex's silly ideas."

"Yeah! Just because he's an Elite Four member doesn't mean I have to like him!"

Spindini played Spin and Win, and while she did, she watched Chaos battling. Rin was now a gray lemur with leaves sticking out of her ankles and rivets on her body, which she heard the Pokédex describe as "Lemurinrin, the Digitalemur". She found it amusing how Chaonna had the "nna" of Vanna and Lemurinrin had Rin right there – twice! Wouldn't it be silly if Platypup also had a level 50 evolution, and it had Perry in its name?

Chaos ultimately won using the power of Clawitzer's Water Pulse and Lemurinrin's ability to find more Berries than other Pokémon. They picked up their badge and TM. "I'm going to teach this to Ligma."

"What's Ligma?" asked Laverne.

"A combination of Lileep and Slugma! Or rather, Ligma balls!"

After their battle, they returned to the arcade room, while Chaos played Cyclone, obtaining some tickets, and trading them, as well as Spindini's for a PP Max. She didn't mind. They stayed at the Lava Lodge, as Chaos taught Flamethrower to Ligma and Eeveeon. Spindini was watching Shocking Words when they broke in with some news.

"Alex Stumpf's proposed 'wall' is finally going up. Construction will begin around the edges of Lynwood Cliff tomorrow."

"I thought he was bad before, but he's Even Worse!" said Spindini.

"I know. Who interrupts Shocking Words?" asked Chaos.

"No. Now we know the wall isn't an empty promise."

Then, Spindini heard a knock at the door. She opened it, only to see a cat with tentacles for its mouth and limbs instead of a person. It must have used the tentacles to knock! Spindini pointed her Pokédex at it.

"Cathulhu, Eldritch Cat Pokémon. Can be combined with many other Pokémon."

"See? I told you it was real!" shouted Chaos.

"Should I catch it?"

"It looks cute enough. You should at least try."

"Go, Shadow! Use Night Slash!" Shadow slashed Cathulhu across the face with dark energy in her claw. Cathulhu responded by striking her with tentacles.

"Fire Fang!" Shadow's mouth became fiery, and she sunk her teeth into Cathulhu's side. A dark liquid came dripping out. Spindini then threw an Ultra Ball at the cat, and sent Falcount to the PC in exchange for Cathulhu.

Spindini used the DNA Splicer on Cathulhu and Chaonna and was left with one Pokémon; a fire rabbit with tentacle ears, tentacles filling up her mouth and a black flame for a tail. Spindini used her Pokédex to identify it.

"Eldrabbit, Eldritch Rabbit Pokémon. This is a newly discovered Pokémon. No data available."

She had a Pokémon so new there was no data besides its category! That was so interesting but a little scary at the same time. Spindini used the splicer again and the Pokémon split into its components.

They then fell asleep, Eeveeon laying on Chaos's head and Shadow on Spindini's.


	9. Van Awe

The sleeping Spindini saw a beautiful fire dragon, with a wreath of flames surrounding its neck, wings of fire, a flaming fin down its back, and a flaming tail tip. It breathed fire, which spelled out a message: SAVE YOURSELF. Spindini was understandably worried when she awoke.  
“A dragon just told me to save myself. Now I’m worried about those Stumpf dunces again.”  
“If I can’t protect you, Weird Al will. If he can’t protect you, Sylvanna will. And then there’s Lexiblanc.”  
“But none of them are here!”  
“We have our Pokémon teams. We can do so much with them!”  
They took a Vanawe back to Rota City, where they saw Weird Al running a booth at the Rotamarket. He had a stack of disks that looked like TMs.  
“More TMs? And Weird Al is selling them? I have to get in on that!” shouted Spindini, running towards the booth. “What TMs are these?” she asked Al.  
“They’re not TMs, they’re AMs, Al Machines. Each of them represents one of my albums, and any Pokémon can learn them. They have a label stating their effects. Buy them for 1000!”  
Spindini looked through the Al Machines. She checked out Even Worse, which gave a Pokémon Bad Burn, acting like a burn but growing in intensity like Toxic poison. Spindini thought it would be good for Ninetales, since she knew Hex, so she bought it. The other AMs didn’t really interest her, but she noticed something about some of their labels. “What’s the Weird type?”  
“Oh, it’s a new type I invented! My Accordeon is Weird and Steel. It’s super effective against Normal, Fighting, and Fairy, not very effective against Psychic, resists Fighting and Fairy, and is weak to Normal. Oh, and Grass is immune to it. Some of my AMs are Weird, and Boomburst was also reclassified to Weird! And on that note, let me give you new Typechart. Cards. That way, you won’t have to memorize these type relations.”  
Weird Al gives them the Typechart Cards. Weird was added on both the offensive and defensive ends, and Omni was updated so as to make Weird immune to it.  
“I like Weird, but I don’t think my Pokémon need any Weird moves right now. Thank you for Even Worse anyway.”  
Spindini showed the new AM to Chaos, who decided they also wanted Even Worse on their Ligma. When Spindini taught the move to Ninetales, a song started playing.  
“I’m stuck in a closet with Vanna Blank! Night after night and my heart really sank!” sang Weird Al. Spindini danced to the music while it lasted and handed the AM to Chaos.  
When Chaos taught it to Ligma, Al sang, “This song is just six words long, this song is just six words long…”  
“Musical moves? Now I’ve seen everything!” remarked Chaos.  
After Rin found a Wiki Berry, they walked up to the Vanawe they used. Spindini made sure to tip it with the berry. Suddenly, a little panel in the Vanawe displayed a message. It said, “I noticed you’ve been tipping a lot of Vanawe! Would you like to become my trainer?”  
“Yes! I’d love to!”  
“Get your Ball ready!” said the panel. Spindini opened an Ultra Ball, calling Vanawe in. The ball didn’t even wobble; Vanawe just accepted it.  
They soon walked off to Route Ω7. It was industrialized, with piles of waste by the roadside having turned into Trubbish. Vanawe drove up and down the road, so Spindini and Chaos walked on the side of the road, taking care to avoid the Trubbish.  
Elecspress City looked futuristic, with buildings completely covered with glass windows. Spindini saw a large power plant with a nuclear reactor. “Let’s go in!” said Spindini.  
“But I don’t want to be caught in a meltdown,” said Chaos.  
“Rota may have nuclear Pokémon.”  
“Well, I do kind of want to be caught in a meltdown…”  
Spindini and Chaos walked up to the power plant and saw the usual sign. This time all Pokémon were levels 61-70.  
“It’s odd how levels are sequential clockwise, even though the gyms can be battled in any order. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this place was designed by someone who wanted it to be linear and non-linear at the same time,” said Spindini.  
“But how would the Pokémon know to separate themselves by level in that way?”  
“You got me there.” Spindini noticed a Pokémon that looked like Plusle and Minun. It had purple ears and a purple tail, though, and its tail was two parallel lines. Spindini used her Pokédex to identify it.  
“Equala, Equality Pokémon. This Pokémon treats everyone equally, which causes it to be hated by extremists on both sides in conflicts.”  
“That’s a nice thought,” said Spindini. She sent out Cathulhu to give it a little training. Spindini checked its moves, and they were all written in dark, dripping letters. The first moves were Night Slash, Crunch, and Wrap, which were normal, but the last move was different. It was named Strangle.  
“Well, I guess now is as good a time as any to find out what it does. Cathulhu, use Strangle!”  
Cathulhu’s tentacles undulated and wrapped around Equala’s body. Equala started twitching, then fell to the ground, knocked out.  
“All right! Ultra Ball, go!” Equala, however, dodged the ball, then fled.  
Spindini left Equala alone and looked for Chaos, but decided to teach Even Worse to Cathulhu over Strangle. Cathulhu didn’t seem to be willing to learn Even Worse, though. Even so, Spindini didn’t want to select the move ever; she feared it could actually kill a Pokémon, even if Equala was merely knocked out.  
Chaos was near the nuclear reactor, realizing its immense potential. “What if my computer’s battery had one of these? It would be great!”  
“I agree. Wanna restock on Pokéballs?” asked Spindini.  
“All right!” They went into the Pokémart and noticed a gray VM on the counter.  
“What’s this?” Spindini asked the counter lady.  
“It’s VM02, Mega Slam. Heavy Pokémon, as well as all Steel-Types, can learn it.”  
Spindini had a heavy Steel-Type: Vanawe! “Then I’ll take it!” She handed over the 2000 and sent out Vanawe, teaching it the VMs for Mega Slam and Cola Blast.  
Looking over her team, Spindini decided Vanawe would be in the battle against the Electric gym. She also kept in Vanna and Shadow, since they were her most faithful companions. Scraggy and Ninetales wouldn’t do badly either, but she switched Falcount for her old pet Hippowdon, nicknamed Puppy, to avoid weaknesses.  
Then, Spindini decided that splicing Vanna with Cathulhu would give her even more power, so she sent Scraggy to the PC, spliced the Pokémon, then took Scraggy back out. Spindini noticed a screen on her Pokédex saying “Select moves; 2 from donor, 2 from recipient”. An image of Cathulhu appeared with “Donor” under it and Chaonna with “Recipient”. The moves Spindini chose were Flare Blitz, Head Smash, Night Slash, and Wrap. There were probably more useful moves than Wrap, but Crunch would be redundant, and Spindini wasn’t going anywhere near Strangle.  
Chaos chose Eeveeon, Rin, Yanbear, Tsareena, and Ligma for their team. They were about to pick Liepard when they noticed another Pokémon. Rotasweep was vacuuming the streets of Elecspress City. Chaos sent out Rin, noticing a new move on her moveset. “Rin, use Metal Chew!”  
Rin bit into Rotasweep’s metallic body, doing little damage but revitalizing herself from the damage she did. Rotasweep reacted by shooting an orb of shadows at her.  
“I think it’s time to throw a Pokéball!” Chaos threw an Ultra Ball at Rotasweep, who sucked it up. However, the ball caught Rotasweep from the inside. Chaos checked up on them to find that they had a gray, black, and white marble on a string around their handle.  
“Sweep sweep,” purred the Rotasweep.  
“Rotasweepite? This is my first Mega Evolving Pokémon!” shouted Chaos.  
“Rota!”  
“You saved Spindini and I?”  
Rotasweep purred happily. “Rotasweep!”  
Spindini then found another marble under where Rotasweep was. It was white, pink, and black; the colors of Vanawe. Spindini put it inside Vanawe.  
“Thanks for the Vanawinite!” Vanawe’s panel displayed.  
It was now time to face the gym, so Spindini and Chaos looked for it. What they saw looked like a factory, but it had a sign saying “Elecspress Gym/Former Elesa Factory”. What did Elesa have to do with anything? She was all the way in Unova. They went in anyway.  
In the factory, they saw many cars laying around not doing much of anything. A man with very short dark hair and a shiny yellow bodysuit walked up to them, then waved a device with a screen in it over them. “Six badges, okay,” he said.  
Spindini walked up to a Rocker. “Here’s Galvantula!” he shouted, sending out the fuzzy electric spider.  
“Go, Eldrabbit!” Vanna was the best matchup for a Bug-type that you could get, even in eldritch form.  
“Use Head Smash!” Spindini called.  
“Thunder, Galvantula!” Eldrabbit lurched towards the spider, smacking it with its rock ears, but a jolt of lightning fell from above onto it.  
“Flare Blitz!” Spindini called, but the lightning shocked Eldrabbit too much for it to move.  
“Thunder again!” Galvantula looked right at Eldrabbit then called down another lightning bolt.  
“Now try using Flare Blitz!” Eldrabbit charged at Galvantula, torching its fur, but the aftershock knocked it out as well. The two trainers recalled their Pokémon.  
“Shadow, you got this!”  
“Go, Magnezone! Use Flash Cannon!” The machine shot a ray of light from its eye.  
“Night Slash!” The light shocked Shadow, but she used the dark energy in her claws to reveal some wires inside Magnezone anyway.  
“Thunderbolt!” Magnezone’s magnets sparked as they shot electricity at Shadow.  
“Don’t let it get to you! Bite its wires!” Shadow leapt onto Magnezone and chewed on the wires sticking out of it, causing it to turn off.  
Spindini walked up to the next trainer, who was a Guitarist. “I work for Weird Al, he’s my greatest pal!” he sang, sending out Vikavolt as Spindini sent out Hippowdon. The hippopotamus released sand from his pores, spreading it around the arena.  
The bug was hovering, so Spindini had to try another plan than Earthquake. “Stone Edge!” she commanded, as Hippowdon’s sand consolidated into rocks, which he then expelled towards Vikavolt, missing the Pokémon.  
“Energy Ball!” Vikavolt charged up a sphere of green energy between its jaws, then launched it towards Hippowdon.  
“Now use Fire Fang!” Hippowdon lurched at Vikavolt, biting down on its jaws with a fiery mouth.  
“Bug Buzz!” Vikavolt fluttered its wings, launching a sound wave at Hippowdon that caused him discomfort.  
“Try the Stone Edge thing again!” Hippowdon launched more stones towards Vikavolt, knocking it out of the air.  
The Guitarist recalled Hippowdon then looked at his Togedemaru. “All right. I concede,” he said. “Face your leader now.”  
Spindini looked up at the Gym Leader. “Hello. My name is Elon. I became the Gym Leader of Elecspress City when Vanawe obsoleted my electric car business, Elesa, named after the famous Unovan model. I do not like Vanawe.” Spindini handed over her Pokéballs and Elon healed the Pokémon.  
“We battle a little differently here,” said Elon, gesturing towards two cannon-like machines. “We put five of our Pokéballs in these machines, and every time we need to send out a Pokémon, it launches one out randomly.”  
“In that case, you’re on!” Spindini dumped her Pokéballs into the cannon machine, and Elon did the same for his. They launched out Spindini’s Ninetales and Elon’s Equala.  
“Ninetales, use Ice Beam!”  
“Iron Tail, Equala!” Ninetales fired the ray of ice at Equala, but Equala’s metallic equal tail knocked her out immediately. The launcher shot out Spindini’s Shadow, causing her usual aura.  
“Shadow, use Shadow Rush!” Shadow pounced onto Equala and dug her claws into it. While Equala wailed in pain, the machine sent out Elon’s Luxray.  
“Shadow Rush again!” called Spindini.  
“Use Wild Charge!” Luxray charged up electricity around it and attempted to tackle Shadow to the ground, but the dark waves distracted it and made it slide across the ground. Shadow’s fur stuck up from the electricity as she bit and slashed Luxray.  
“Now use Double Kick!” Luxray slammed its leg into Shadow, twice.  
“Shadow Claw!” Shadow’s claws turned dark as she slashed Luxray again, leaving it bleeding. The machine sent out Ampharos, but this one had a white, yellow, and red marble hanging from its neck.  
“Dragon Pulse, and go Mega!” called Elon. The shaved sheep grew a full mane of wool and a woolly tail encrusted with red orbs as it charged up a wave of purple energy, launching it towards Shadow and knocking her to the ground. The machine sent out Eldrabbit.  
“Use Head Smash!” Eldrabbit rushed at Ampharos, slamming its ears towards it but missing because bits of Shadow’s aura still blocked its view.  
“Power Gem!” Ampharos’s red orbs lit up and released a ray of crystalline energy at the eldritch rabbit, knocking her to the ground. The shadowy aura faded away as Hippowdon left the machine and filled the arena with his sand.  
“Dragon Pulse it!” called Elon. Waves of dragon energy crashed into the hippo.  
“Use Earthquake!” The ground shook under everyone’s feet, causing Ampharos to fall off balance for a while, but Ampharos was not down yet.  
“Dragon Pulse again!”  
“Slack Off!” As the second wave hit Hippowdon, he relaxed his body, re-energizing him for later.  
“Keep using Dragon Pulse!”  
“One last Earthquake!” Before Ampharos could attack, the ground trembled again, and this time Ampharos fell for good. The machine expelled a Lanturn.  
“Earthquake again!”  
“Hydro Pump!”  
While Lanturn released water from its mouth, the quake caused it to lose its energy, but the water splashing onto Hippowdon also tired it out. It was down to the last Pokémon standing from each side.  
The machine released a sleek electric dragon with electricity coursing between its orb-tipped horns, a lightning bolt tail, and black lightning bolt stripes down its body. It also released Vanawe.  
“Vanawe?!” the dragon screamed. Elon was nowhere to be found.  
Spindini pointed her Pokédex at the dragon. “Voltrai, Electric Dragon Pokémon. This guardian of the Rotan Power Plant has helped supply the region with energy for years.”  
“Well, I’m happy it’s a dragon. Vanawe, just use Cola Blast!”  
Vanawe splashed the dragon with Coca-Cola, and it turned back into Elon. “Here’s your Energy Badge.” He gave Spindini a letter E made of lightning bolts. “And your Thunderbolt.” He handed over a yellow TM.  
“So, how do you feel about stopping the reign of Alex?”  
“I don’t want to stop Alex. He wants to get the world of business back into shape, and when he bans Vanawe, Elesa will be one of the top companies of Rota.”  
“But Vanawe improves quality of life!”  
“Having free transportation ruins the economy. It’s a free market thing. You wouldn’t understand, tankie.”  
Spindini frowned at Elon and let Chaos battle him. She thought Voltrai reminded her of the dragons in her dreams. What if all of them were Rota’s gym leaders?  
As the Pokéballs flew, it came down to Eeveeon vs. Voltrai. Though Eeveeon attacked with a Giga Impact, Voltrai fought back using Bolt Strike twice, made ineffective by Eevee’s Electric orb. Then, the brown Eeveeonium Z around his neck, fluffy tail and all, started glowing. “Extreme Evostrike! Let’s go!” Chaos announced.  
Images of the many Eeveelutions, including Accordeon, empowered Eeveeon. All his orbs glowed, releasing a rainbow light that raised all his stats, including Accuracy, Evasion, Critical, and Determination, the last two only becoming stats recently, then only the Normal orb stayed lit. Eeveeon tackled Voltrai, whipping it with his strong tail. Voltrai turned back into Elon, giving Chaos the badge and the TM.  
Suddenly, one of the cars left over in the gym unfolded robotic limbs and a head from its car-like body. “Wait a minute, is that…?” asked Chaos.  
“Sure looks like one.” Spindini used her Pokédex to identify it.   
“Autobot, Transformer Pokémon. It fights against corrupt cars to help the world.”  
Autobot used Transform, turning into Eeveeon, who pounced towards Elon.  
“Not so fast! You’re not the only one! Go, Decepticon!” Another car took a similar transformation to that of Autobot. Z3rc scanned it. “Decepticon, Transformer Pokémon. A corrupt car that Autobot tend to fight and encounter.”  
Autobot, as Eeveeon, released a torrent of Coca-Cola at Decepticon, causing its Fairy orb to glow, and also causing Decepticon to short out. Eeveeon turned back into Autobot, who rolled up into a car again.  
“Well, that was strange,” said Spindini. “I’m leaving.” They left the old factory and noticed the six men who had supported Alex Stumpf blocking their way.  
“We tracked your route through Rota, and we know you would be here,” said one of them.  
“Creepy…” said Spindini.  
“How about you face us like trainers? I use three, Spinny uses three, and you each use one. That will be a six-on-six!” shouted Chaos.  
“Well, we are the Big Six,” said one of them. “I’m Freezer.” He sent out Articuno.  
“I’m Thunder.” He sent out Zapdos.  
“I’m Fire.” He sent out Moltres.  
“I’m Kairyu.” He sent out Dragonite.  
“I’m Double.” He sent out Mewtwo.  
“And I’m Pinky.” He sent out Mew.  
“So, you have the real Mew? How did you get it?” asked Spindini.  
“Oh, we just cloned all our legends using link cables,” said Pinky. “I released the real Mew onto Route 24 a while ago. This is a clone.”  
“So it’s Mew, two, but not Mewtwo.”  
“Exactly.”  
“This is confusing… but not too confusing for me! Go, Eldrabbit, Ninetales, Vanawe!”  
“Rin, Rotasweep, and Yanbear, do it!”  
“Okay, all the Fairies, launch a Cola Blast!” commanded Spindini. Ninetales, Vanawe, and Yanbear each fired a ray of cola, and they converged into one, splattering Dragonite, Mewtwo, and Mew.  
“Tri Attack!” called Freezer, Thunder, and Fire, as their Pokémon launched an Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, and Flamethrower. The fire in the attack caused all the Pokémon on Spindini and Chaos’s side to catch on fire, except for Eldrabbit.  
But then, Chaos suddenly activated the DNA Splicers. Chaonna and Cathulhu were standing there.  
Cathulhu’s tentacles then writhed and pulsated. It was using Strangle.  
Spindini expected to see a pile of fainted, possibly dead legendary clones, and Dragonite.  
However, the death she saw was actually of their trainers as it wrapped the tentacles around each of their necks. The Pokéballs melted now that their trainers were dead, and they all flew away.  
“Great job, Spinny! You sure showed them!” cheered Chaos.  
“But they were humans, too. They had jobs, families… maybe even Pokémon that weren’t brainwashed clones.”  
“They stole our Pokédexes just because we didn’t like Alex, remember?”  
“But they never tried to kill us.”  
“I know. But they deserve it. After all, they’ll probably form some evil team afterward.” said Chaos.  
Spindini stored Cathulhu in the PC, exchanging it for Floorfox. She couldn’t even bear to watch Shocking Words, because she worried about her deed being on the news.


	10. Morphed

Spindini kept having dragon dreams after realizing the truth. She saw Voltrai, and heard it growling, “You will pay…”  
After Spindini and Chaos left the Electron Hotel, Spindini sent out Vanawe. But a boy walked by her, stammering, “Please don’t kill me…”  
Spindini saw her face and that of Cathulhu posted on the buildings in Elecspress City. She looked closer at the poster, seeing that it said, “Spindini’s Pokémon: Real Murderer”.  
They got into their Vanawe and had it fly them back to Rota City. Rotans were keeping a large distance from the two at all times.  
Spindini heard the whispers. “...did she train it to kill?” “why did she have…” “...take that brutal Pokémon away…”  
Though Spindini didn’t want to be associated with Cathulhu anymore, she still felt attached to it. If only there was a way to keep it around without it being recognized. Wait a minute… splicing! Spindini couldn’t use Eldrabbit, but what if Chaos’s Lemurinrin could fuse with Cathulhu?  
“Hey, could I try a splice using Lemurinrin as the recipient and Cathulhu as the donor?”  
“Definitely, I want an eldritch Pokémon too!”  
“Then why don’t we breed Cathulhu and Shadow? They’re probably compatible, since they’re both cats.”  
There was no Day-Care center in Rota, so Pokémon breeders had to watch their Pokémon. Spindini placed Shadow and Cathulhu on the ground. They looked at each other lovingly, then a pink bubble came down with an egg in it. After the bubble popped, Spindini and Chaos noticed that the egg had tentacles and cat ears. Spindini held it up to Vanna’s tail to hatch it faster, and it eventually did, into a baby Cathulhu.  
“That’s ADORABLE!” said Chaos.  
Spindini handed over the DNA Splicer and Chaos created the combination of Lemurinrin and Cathulhu. Its name displayed as Cthulemur, but there was still no data available. Chaos decided to give them Metal Chew and Seed Bomb from Lemurinrin and Night Slash and Strangle from Cathulhu. When Spindini saw Chaos pick Strangle, she decided she had to say something.  
“Strangle is what killed those Stumpf supporters. Don’t use it, or else you’ll look suspicious.”  
“I’ll only use it in self-defense, how about that?”  
“Well, I guess it’s not as bad.”  
They walked down Route Ω8 to Piximille City. The route was beautiful, with flowers everywhere and Jigglypuff and Clefairy laying in the flowers.  
“I can’t wait to see more Fairies!” said Spindini.  
“Maybe this is where we find Gardevoir and Mawile!”  
It seemed that the residents of Piximille City did not have the same reaction to Spindini’s existence as other Rotans. In fact, the posters there said, “Spindini: A Misunderstood Hero”. There must have been a high concentration of anti-Stumpf people there.  
Spindini and Chaos went to the meadow behind the beautiful city of crystal spires, noticing the sign that said, “Vanna Meadow. All Pokémon in it are level 71-80.”  
So their Megas would be powerful! Spindini looked for a Gardevoir and found one immediately. It sensed the emotion of Spindini and found that she was stressed.  
“Do you want me to come with you?” said Gardevoir, telepathically.  
“I would.” said Spindini, opening up an Ultra Ball. The red light called Gardevoir in, and Spindini still had the empty space left by Cathulhu being spliced, so she did not go to a PC.  
Chaos looked far and wide for a Mawile. They crossed the two hills in the middle of the meadow, looking at the Miltank grazing on them. When they finally found a den of Mawile, surrounded by black flowers, Chaos noticed something different in the middle.  
It was a humanoid shade. Chaos thought it may be a Pokémon, so they used their Pokédex.  
“Z3rc, Void Shade Pokémon. They were created by scientists as an experiment to see if other Pokémon could be made genderless, but its success leaves the Pokémon wandering Rota.”  
Chaos felt themselves drawn to Z3rc for some reason. Maybe it was that they were both genderless and chaotic. Z3rc floated closer to Chaos and wrapped their shade body around them. The Pokémon and trainer became one. Z3rc-Chaos.  
The Pokédex entry for Z3rc now showed that they were Dark/Ghost, with the ability Atheism, giving them a Fairy immunity, which made Z3rc-Chaos have no weaknesses. Z3rc-Chaos enjoyed this, because Chaos was already an atheist, and having no weaknesses is a good idea.  
Z3rc-Chaos held Cola Blast to their own head, picking up the move immediately. However, they wanted to use something else to catch Mawile. “Aeternoblade.” they called, forming a time sword out of shadows and striking a Mawile with it. This was an ???-type move with the ability to rewind time. Their other moves were Zombie Strike and Energy Sword.  
Now, it was time to throw an Ultra Ball. Mawile seemed to like this Trainer, seeing as they were a Pokémorph. Z3rc-Chaos threw the ball and watched it catch Mawile without resistance.  
Z3rc-Chaos found Spindini soon. “You look different.” said Spindini. “What is it?”  
“I morphed with a Pokémon named Z3rc. Now I am a shade with no weaknesses.”  
Spindini checked her Pokédex. “Extra Ability?” she asked.  
“What?”  
“You seem to have an Extra Ability named Permeate.” She checked the description. “It says the user can pass through doors or walls with whatever they are touching.”  
“I think that will be useful later.” said Z3rc-Chaos.  
They got their teams of six ready for what they believed was the final gym of Rota. Spindini chose Shadow, Vanna, Ninetales, Vanawe, Gardevoir, and Fuzzy. Z3rc-Chaos chose themselves, Mawile, Eeveeon, Cthulemur, Rotasweep, and Yanbear.  
Spindini walked into the local Contest Hall, which was also the gym. She noticed an elderly woman who looked kind of like Vanna before she became Lexiblanc was just standing on a blue platform.  
“My name is Hillary.” said the woman.  
“Where are your gym trainers?”  
“I don’t have any.”  
“Are you upset that my Pokémon Strangled the Big Six?”  
“No. They deserved it for being so deplorable!”  
“So what’s your little rule?”  
“Since the League is so corrupt, I decided not to follow their practices. Instead, we will have a standard, six-on-six battle!” She smiled widely. “Go, Purrberus!”  
Spindini didn’t even have to use her Pokédex to understand this Pokémon. It was an orange cat with three heads, and it was adorable! So adorable she didn’t want to fight it. But she had to. It would be one-on-three. “Go, Shadow!”  
Shadow’s aura permeated the arena, clouding the vision of Purrberus’s six eyes. “Metal Claw!” called Spindini.  
“Use Triple Bite!” shouted Hillary. Her triple cat tried to bite Shadow three times, but all three bites missed. Shadow’s metallic clawslash, however, dug into the side of Purrberus hard.  
“Triple Bite again!” This time, the three bites hit Shadow as she mewled in pain. Spindini angrily recalled her.  
“This is for Shadow! Go, Fuzzy!” The moth was ready to strike. “Use Flash Cannon!” Fuzzy emitted beams of light from her eyes, burning some fur off Purrberus. The triple cat attempted to Triple Bite again, but it just could not move.  
“Purrberus, get back! Go, Florges!” A beautiful flower fairy hit the ground. “Use Calm Mind!” She focused energy to her head, closing her eyes.  
“Flash Cannon again!” The light shone at Florges but ended up missing her.  
“Moonblast!” Florges charged up a ray of lunar energy, shooting it towards Fuzzy. The shadowy wisps were dissipating.  
“Air Slash!” called Spindini. Fuzzy flapped her wings quickly, causing a blade of air to hit Florges. Before she could get another attack in, she fell to the floor, but got back up. Her attack was still cancelled, though.  
“One more Flash Cannon!” Fuzzy’s eye beams pierced through Florges and forced Hillary to recall her.  
“Go, Klefki! Use Swagger!” Klefki jingled its keys at Fuzzy, disorienting and upsetting her.  
“Use Flash Cannon!” However, Fuzzy simply hit herself in the face with a wing.  
“Foul Play!” Klefki struck its keys against Fuzzy, knocking her down.  
“Go, Vanna!” Spindini sent out the fiery rabbit.  
“Thunder Wave!” called Hillary. The keyring emitted a spark from its metallic body, making Vanna’s body less mobile.  
“Use Flare Blitz!” Vanna broke through the paralysis and charged Klefki to the ground while burning with flames. Klefki’s warped, heated shape could no longer float, so Hillary called it back.  
“Go, Mimikyu!” Spindini had no choice but to bust its disguise.  
“Flare Blitz again!” Mimikyu’s Pikachu-like head fell over. That was when Spindini noticed the gray Z-Crystal with a circle on it hanging around its neck.  
“Now use your Z-Power! Z-Splash!” Mimikyu flopped around, overcome by an aura of blazing orange. Its Attack was drastically increased.  
“You too, Vanna!” The Firium Z hanging on Vanna’s neck lit up with Z-Power. “Inferno Overdrive!” Vanna cloaked herself in a torrent of flames and charged towards Mimikyu.  
“Drain Punch!” Mimikyu struck Vanna with its tail, absorbing energy from it. The Inferno Overdrive still went through, burning Mimikyu’s disguise completely. Hillary recalled it before anyone could see what was under it, but Spindini looked at Vanna’s shattered ears and decided it was time to recall her, too.  
Both threw their next Pokéball at the same time. Two Gardevoir were standing in front of each other, both wearing Mega Stones in their hair!  
“Hyper Voice.” said Spindini. “And Mega Evolve!”  
“Do the same!”  
The two Gardevoir’s dresses grew larger as they started releasing sound waves, causing each other to reel backwards.  
“Signal Beam!” Spindini’s Gardevoir released a beam of light from her hands.  
“Shadow Ball!” Hillary’s charged up an orb of darkness, crashing into Spindini’s first. The Signal Beam still damaged Hillary’s Gardevoir, but Spindini’s could not get back up.  
“Vanawe! Now is your time! Mega Slam!” Vanawe sped into Gardevoir, running it over. Hillary recalled Gardevoir from under Vanawe’s tires.  
“Now it’s time for…” Hillary morphed into a light pink dragon with pink, purple, and gold butterfly wings, a rainbow frill down her back, and pink fuzz on her tail. “Faeridium!”  
Faeridium was a fairy, but she was still a dragon. “Cola Blast!” Vanawe shot Coke from her mouth, splashing over the fairy dragon.  
“Focus Blast!” Faeridium charged up an orange energy sphere in her claws, but it did not hit Vanawe.  
“Mega Slam!” Vanawe flew towards Faeridium, crashing right into her and turning her back into Hillary.  
“Here’s your Iridescent Badge.” She gave Spindini a letter I that had an arrow pointing up in the middle of it and reflected rainbow light. “And your TM. Dazzling Gleam.” She handed the pink disk to Spindini.  
“Now it’s time to see what Chaos has to say about this.” said Spindini as Z3rc-Chaos walked up to Hillary.  
“I know you support Spindini, but you’re still going down!”  
“Oh, really? It’s time to face the power of my Fairies!” Hillary tossed out Purrberus. “Use Triple Bite!”  
Z3rc-Chaos shrugged off the bites. “Fairies are just like God; I don’t believe in them and have become immune to their attacks. And if there is a God, he can suck a blaster.”  
“But you look like a Dark-type!”  
“I am. Eelektross is also an Electric-type. It, like me, has no weaknesses. Zombie Strike!” they called, bashing Purrberus around with their arms.  
After five more Zombie Strikes, Hillary and her team were down.  
“I just never heard of Pokémon and trainer being the same. Here’s your badge and Dazzling Gleam.”  
They took Vanawe back to Rota City in an attempt to enter the Rota League, but the streets were full of protesters. They held up signs with things like, “STOP SPINDINI!” “RELEASE CATHULHU!” “TAKE HER BADGES!”  
Suddenly, from the Shocking Words studio emerged the beautiful Lexiblanc. Her calming aura made the protesters stop moving, entranced by her beauty. Then, she spoke.  
“I am Lexiblanc, and I endorse Spindini’s decision. The man named Alex Stumpf wants to ban hundreds of entire Pokémon species from the league, so anyone who supports him supports that discrimination. I also happen to know that they tried to attack Spindini with their legends when she was unprepared for battle, and they stole her and her friend’s devices. They were also cruel to legendary Pokémon clones, and didn’t let them have their own ideas. As such, we should stop hating on Spindini. And if anyone tries to harm her…”  
Lexiblanc phased into Spindini’s body, giving her the great puzzleboard wings, then spoke from within Spindini.  
“My powers will harm them back!”  
The crowd cleared and threw their signs into trash cans. Lexiblanc-Spindini and Z3rc-Chaos then slept in the Rota Mega-Hotel. Shocking Words would have been impossible to host, and they didn’t want any Stumpf ads.


	11. The Ninth Badge

Chapter 10: The Ninth Badge  
Lexiblanc-Spindini had another dream about a dragon, which she knew was Faeridium. She said “Thank you for being here. You’re a great person.” That reassured her, and she looked through Rota City. They noticed a tall building that looked like it had 108 floors and felt drawn to it.  
“I haven’t seen this before,” said Lexiblanc-Spindini.  
“Let’s go in,” said Z3rc-Chaos.  
But they were soon accosted by more Stumpf supporters! Three of them sent out Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise.  
“I bet you don’t even know what my Fairy type is weak to,” said Lexiblanc-Spindini, looking through her moves. She saw V-create, U-turn, Diamond Storm, and a new move called Obletterate, so Spindini used Obletterate to see what it was like.  
Her wings spread out wide, shooting the letters “RSTLNE” made of light at the three starter Pokémon. RS hit Venusaur, TL hit Charizard, and NE hit Blastoise. The NE broke Blastoise’s shell, forcing the Stumpf supporter to send it back.   
Z3rc-Chaos used their Energy Sword to ward off other supporters as Lexiblanc-Spindini dealt with the three starters. She called out, “Diamond Storm!” as crystals around her neck glowed, bringing Charizard to its knees.  
Lexiblanc-Spindini still had Venusaur to deal with, and it covered her with sludge, causing her to try to wipe it off. But she still cried, “V-Create!” Her hand extended into the air, creating a fiery letter V that scorched Venusaur.  
Then, a supporter sent out a Muk. Spindini-Lexiblanc tried to avoid it, but its sludge creeped across her body. Though Pokémon were well-equipped to handle poison, only fainting when it overtook them, humans were not, and since Spindini-Lexiblanc was half-human and her Pokémon half was made from a human anyway, the odds were against her.  
Z3rc-Chaos looked for an Antidote, but they had none, and Stumpf supporters blocked the way to the Rotamarket. Spindini-Lexiblanc tried to Obletterate the Muk, but she could not break through its defenses. Her skin turned a sickly shade of purple as she folded in her puzzleboard wings and teetered across the ground.  
“I don’t feel so good…” called out Lexiblanc-Spindini. Z3rc-Chaos could only watch as the poison took her life. They took the opportunity to check Lexiblanc-Spindini’s heartbeat, but they could feel nothing.   
Then, Z3rc-Chaos realized something. “It doesn’t have to be this way!” they called out as they used Aeternoblade. They slashed the Muk with it, and time rewinded itself. Lexiblanc-Spindini sprang to life, and the Muk fainted.  
“That man’s Muk just killed you!” screamed Z3rc-Chaos. “But I had to revive you because I felt like it was necessary. Thanks for supporting and accepting me.” they added.  
Lexiblanc-Spindini then saw a marble in her necklace, with the colors of the puzzleboard. She realized what it was, Spinlexite, and called out, “Mega Evolution!” Her puzzleboard grew further, and her dress became studded with diamonds.  
She created a flaming letter V in the air large enough to incinerate every Stumpf supporter in the area.  
“I’ll take my small loan now!” said Z3rc-Chaos, rummaging through their pockets for 1,000,000.  
They took the Rotavator, with a name Z3rc-Chaos appreciated due to it being a palindrome, to the top of the tall building, 108F. At the top, Lexiblanc-Spindini saw a sign saying “Rota City Gym”. “But I thought there were only 8 gyms?”  
“This must be an unofficial one, like the Fighting Dojo.”  
They walked into the large room, where they saw a chalk-white ghost with a long white dress, ice crystal wings, and the ears of a Mew, and a humanoid purple and lime green figure that looked like Bisharp, but with poisonous spikes on its body.  
“Pokémon? But you’re not dragons!” shouted Lexiblanc-Spindini.  
“That’s why our gym is unofficial… Sort of.” they droned. “Would you like a double battle?” they asked.  
“Who are you?” asked Lexiblanc-Spindini.  
“I’m Miyukionna.” said the ghost.  
“And I’m Vollmetall.” said the spiked figure.  
“I guess we’ll battle you.” said Z3rc-Chaos.  
Miyukionna sent out her Primarina, and Vollmetall their Porygon-Z. “Go, Ducky…” said Vollmetall.   
Spindini thought the name Ducky sounded familiar. Then, she realized it. That was her name for her antivirus company’s mascot! She sent out Gardevoir, and Z3rc-Chaos Mawile.  
“Mawile, use Swords Dance while Gardevoir Cola Blasts you, and both of you Mega Evolve!” shouted Lexiblanc-Spindini.  
Mawile stomped around while sharpening her jaw and growing a second set of jaws.  
“Primarina, Scald!” Primarina covered Mawile and Gardevoir with a torrent of steaming water.  
“Ducky, Tri Attack Gardevoir!” Porygon-Z shot beams of fire, ice, and lightning from its duckbill and they pierced into Gardevoir, who shot soda at Mawile. The jaw Pokémon enjoyed the soda using her large mouths.  
“Mawile, Play Rough Primarina!” called Z3rc-Chaos. Mawile lunged at Primarina and bit her tail hard. Primarina wailed in pain.  
“Gardevoir, get Ducky with a Cola Blast!” Gardevoir sprayed soda all over the Porygon-Z, making it sticky.  
“Scald again!” Primarina released another load of water. It left Gardevoir too burned to continue battling, so Lexiblanc-Spindini called her back.   
“Tri Attack!” Porygon-Z’s attack didn’t cause much damage to Mawile.  
“Go, Shadow!” yelled Lexiblanc-Spindini. “Use Shadow Rush on Ducky!” Shadow held Porygon-Z in her paws then clawslashed it until binary code came spilling out. Vollmetall sadly recalled it.  
“Iron Head, now!” Mawile smashed her metallic jaws into Primarina’s body, rendering Primarina unconscious. Miyukionna sent out Alolan Sandslash, and Vollmetall sent out a Steel-type Silvally.  
“Sandslash, use Iron Head!” Sandslash’s head spike turned metallic, and she dug it into Mawile’s body, forcing Z3rc-Chaos to recall her.   
“Shadow, Shadow Rush!” Shadow dug her claws into Sandslash’s soft belly.  
“Silvally, use Multi-Attack!” Silvally slammed their head spikes into Shadow’s face.  
“Go, Eeveeon!” Z3rc-Chaos sent out their Eeveelution.   
“Now it’s time to finally see what Shadow’s Z-Power can do.” said Lexiblanc-Spindini. “Infinite Eclipse!” The Shadeowium Z glowed, and Shadow bit down on Silvally. Her fangs pierced its body, and darkness overcame the battlefield. Vollmetall knew it was down to battling as themselves now.  
“Eeveeon used a Hysterical Move! Flame Claw!” Eeveeon became Fire-type with its orb and clawslashed the Ice/Steel Sandslash, fainting it.  
“No choice but to fight now!” said Miyukionna. She spread her wings and shouted, “Boomburst!” Icy sound waves emerged from her body, causing Shadow to fall down, while Eeveeon survived by using its Ice orb. Lexiblanc-Spindini was about to also fight as herself.  
“Dissolving Alkahest!” Vollmetall fired an acid from their blades, melting Lexiblanc-Spindini’s puzzleboard. Eeveeon sprayed her with a blast of soda, which she sipped up, causing her puzzleboard to grow back.  
“How does that even work?!” Vollmetall looked on in disbelief.   
“Something about Yancola being magical, I guess?” Z3rc-Chaos replied.  
“Obletterate!” Lexiblanc-Spindini created the letters RSTLNE from a fairy light, cutting through Miyukionna’s body.  
“Dazzling Gleam!” Miyukionna released a wave of sparkles, which damaged Lexiblanc-Spindini, and knocked out Eeveeon.  
Z3rc-Chaos decided to battle as themselves here.  
“Smart Strike!” Vollmetall’s blade pierced through Lexiblanc-Spindini’s body. She still had the will to fight, though.  
“V-Create!”  
“Aeternoblade!”  
Lexiblanc-Spindini shot the letter V into Vollmetall’s face, melting them, and Z3rc-Chaos slashed Miyukionna with a sword.   
“We concede!” they both shouted.  
“Here’s the Ninth Badge.” said Miyukionna, holding out two copies of a metallic IX. The pieces of metal with the I and the X on them seemed to fit together like puzzle pieces, but could be separated.  
“I, for one, think you should use the second half of the Ninth Badge to Doubt.” Vollmetall said. They seemed to be referencing a past meme, as well as a joke about it being based on a Roman Numeral.  
“Where’s the TM?” asked Lexiblanc-Spindini.  
“Have this flute instead.” Miyukionna handed over the Quartz Flute. “Play it in the lowest level.”  
“Level 1?” asked Z3rc-Chaos.  
“No, she means the basement.” said Lexiblanc-Spindini.  
Before heading off to the basement, they looked at their badges. A, F, S, D, V, L, E, I, and IX.  
“I wonder if they spell anything?” said Lexiblanc-Spindini, playing with the letters. EVIL SIX FAD? No, that made no sense. She realized she could separate the I and X and kept playing with the letters. X and D could spell XD, like XD001, the Shadow Lugia, or Pokémon XD, a game Z3rc-Chaos once played where Double Battles were the norm. XD IS ALIVE, Lexiblanc-Spindini spelled. But there was an embarrassing leftover F.  
“Maybe the F is to pay respects?” suggested Z3rc-Chaos.

“To basement 75!” they said enthusiastically. It looked like the Mew Room from the Wi-Fi Plaza, with pink walls, Mew tail lamps, and a platform with cat ears in the middle. Lexiblanc-Spindini stood on the platform and played the song “Polkamon” on the flute. Suddenly, a pink bubble came in, with Mew inside! Mew’s bubble popped and it floated up to Lexiblanc-Spindini. “Mew!” Mew created a Master Ball from nothing, handed it to Lexiblanc-Spindini using telekinesis, and pointed to it with its tail.  
Lexiblanc-Spindini threw the Master Ball at Mew, catching it immediately. It was time to go to the Rota League now.   
But before they did, they decided to rest at the Rota Mega-Hotel. The same place where they were before.


	12. Entering the League

Spindini had a similar dream to the ones from before. Except this time, instead of dragons, there were Miyukionna and Vollmetall.  
“We’re always going to help you. Don’t get anything get you down.” said Miyukionna.  
“You deserve to live, and to win this fight!” added Vollmetall. “Don’t let anyone take that away from you, OK?”  
When she woke up, she felt very reassured. “At least the Ninth Gym likes me.”  
However, the Rota League building was surrounded by a wall. “Only my supporters can go in!” called Alex Stumpf’s voice through an intercom.  
Z3rc-Chaos got an idea. They said, “We’ll just Permeate in!” But when they looked up the Extra Ability on their Pokédex, they also saw that Rin had one, Connect. “My starter has an Extra Ability called Connect. Does yours have one too?”  
Lexiblanc-Spindini checked Vanna’s moves. The Extra Ability that showed was Ultra Teleport. “Vanna has Ultra Teleport.”  
“That sounds more interesting. Let’s use Ultra Teleport then!” Lexiblanc-Spindini sent out Vanna, whose ears glowed with a strange light. They all teleported through a wormhole into a different dimension.   
“Welcome to Ultra Space. I am Necrozma.” called a voice.  
“Oh, you’re the one who was sighted in Alola!” said Lexiblanc-Spindini.  
“Here are two Beast Balls, one for each of you. There are many Ultra Beasts, so we won’t miss one or two.” Necrozma materialized the Beast Balls in their hands.  
The rainbow stars swirled around the two of them. Suddenly, the area changed to a vast desert. It was simply a manifestation of Ultra Space, but it felt so real. The sand crunched under Lexiblanc-Spindini’s feet, and the sun, which had Solgaleo’s face, beat down on Z3rc-Chaos.  
A pale humanoid cockroach then flew by, kicking Lexiblanc-Spindini in the face. “Watch it!” called Lexiblanc-Spindini, but she was then overcome by Pheromosa’s sheer beauty. “Oh, I’m sorry, Pheromosa… I didn’t know it was you…”  
“That bug just kicked you in the face and you’re apologizing to it.” said Z3rc-Chaos. “And I thought I would do anything for a relationship.” Z3rc-Chaos gave Lexiblanc-Spindini a bottle of Coca-Cola, in case she felt bad after being kicked. “They say it’s magical, and I know for sure that it’s physically healing.” they added.  
“At least they weren’t aiming at you, so they didn’t crash.” Lexiblanc-Spindini tossed her Beast Ball, watching it catch Pheromosa on the first try and send them to the PC.  
Then, the desert disappeared, being replaced with a power plant at night. The bright moon had the face of Lunala, and Z3rc-Chaos could see flickering lights in the distance. They drifted towards the lights, only to get an electric shock. They were actually Xurkitree!  
“I’ve always wanted a Xurkitree. Beast Ball, go!” They caught the wired Pokémon, sending it to the PC.  
“Z3rc-Chaos has a Xurkitree now, call that Z3rcitree.” said Lexiblanc-Spindini.  
Necrozma appeared to them again. “Want to go back to Rota?” said the Prism Pokémon.  
“Yes. We won’t be able to catch the Ultra Beasts or anything else, because we’re out of Pokéballs.” said Lexiblanc-Spindini.  
Necrozma glowed with a golden light, and the two ended up back in Rota City outside the League walls.  
“Now let’s try Connect!” said Z3rc-Chaos, sending out Rin. The rings on Rin’s tail took the shape of Wi-Fi lines as she waved her tail, and Z3rc-Chaos’s Pokédex showed a message that said, “Connected to Z3rc-Chaos’s Lemurinrin. One (1) Download Available.”   
Z3rc-Chaos tapped the download text and saw an image of a Rotom floating from a cloud to a Pokédex. The Pokédex’s screen then filled with orange. “Welcome to Rotom Pokédex!” said a Rotom face that appeared.  
“Didn’t a Rotom kill Vanna?” asked Lexiblanc-Spindini.  
“Yezzz, I am that Rotom, actually! But if Vanna never died, there would be no Lexiblanc!” said the Rotom.  
Lexiblanc-Spindini hugged the Pokédex to her body. “Thank you, Rotom.”  
“I aim to pleazzze!” they said.  
Z3rc-Chaos took a hold of Lexiblanc-Spindini’s hand, knowing that this would work with anything they are touching. “Permeate!” They announced. They both turned immaterial, phasing right through the wall around the league. They used the Pokémon Center’s PC to set their league teams. Z3rc-Chaos had themselves, Rin (Cthulemur), Eeveeon, Rotasweep, Mawile, and Mew. Lexiblanc-Spindini had herself, Vanna (Eldrabbit), Shadow, Vanawe, Gardevoir, and Ninetales.   
“Wait.” said Z3rc-Chaos. “Mew telepathically told me to give you this, and created it in my bag.” It was a twitching egg with green fur on it. Lexiblanc-Spindini held it up to Vanna’s tail, and it hatched immediately into a Swingtail! “How cute!” Z3rc-Chaos said.  
“But what do I do with a Swingtail when it’s too weak to battle the league?”  
“Vanawe has lemur ears. You may be able to splice it.”  
Lexiblanc-Spindini held the DNA Splicer up to Swingtail and Vanawe, and they became Lemurmobile. This Furry Van was covered in fur and had a long ringtail. When Chaos scanned it with their Pokédex, it was revealed to be Grass/Steel. Lexiblanc-Spindini chose Mega Slam, Cola Blast, Metal Chew, and Seed Bomb as moves for it from each Pokémon.  
“If Vanawe is the original, Lemurmobile is just its fursona!” Z3rc-Chaos said.  
Lexiblanc-Spindini then received an X-Transceiver notification from Weird Al. It said, “You have fought for what you believe in! Have this Pokémon.” Lexiblanc-Spindini checked her PC, and in it was a Platypup.  
Finally, Z3rc-Chaos looked at the PP Max they got earlier, from the ticket redemption games. They decided to ingest it, maximizing Aeternoblade’s possible PP.  
“Aeternoblade has big PP.” They jokingly said.  
They walked into the first room of the Elite Four with their teams set. An attendant told them, “You can battle the four in any order! But these are double battles. Because many Rotans are inexperienced with double battles, the Elite Four have teams of 10, while you can bring up to 12. Two trainers can enter the League at the same time, in which case it is a tag battle. Also, you can Mega Evolve twice per trainer.”  
Lexiblanc-Spindini and Z3rc-Chaos chose the door with the dragon shaped like the letter R. They entered it to find a shirtless strong man with black hair and a red headband. “I am Ryu! My dragons will certainly win against you!”  
“Good thing I brought a lot of Fairies!”  
“Well, we’re playing with Ruler’s Terrain in effect! This allows Dragon moves to be neutrally effective on Fairies and Steel Pokémon.”  
Lexiblanc-Spindini called out her Eldrabbit, and Z3rc-Chaos sent out Cthulemur. In response, Ryu sent out a Dragonite and an odd rainbow serpent-like dragon.  
Lexiblanc-Spindini checked it with her Pokédex. “Xinkyujyu, Rainbow Dragon Pokémon. Emits elemental energy from its nine orbs.” She noticed the Pokémon had nine colorful orbs lining its back.  
“Eldrabbit, use Head Smash on Dragonite!”  
“Cthulemur, Metal Chew Xinkyujyu!”  
Eldrabbit slammed its rock ears into Dragonite.  
“Dragonite, use Outrage! Xinkyujyu, Draco Meteor!” The two dragons started releasing power. Dragonite channeled it into rushing at Cthulemur and piercing its metal with its claws, and Xinkyujyu rained a storm of fiery rocks onto Eldrabbit.  
Cthulemur used its sharp-toothed mouth to chew the rainbow dragon’s flesh, absorbing its energy and recovering from the dents in its metal body.  
Eldrabbit scurried out from under a rock and got ready to accept another command.  
“Cthulemur, I think it’s safe to Cola Blast Eldrabbit now.”  
“Head Smash Xinkyujyu! If it switches out, that’s okay.”  
Ryu called it back and sent out Garchomp, and Eldrabbit sipped the cola, being re-energized enough to bash Garchomp. Dragonite kept wailing on Cthulemur, piercing it with its horn.  
“Garchomp, use Earthquake! And Mega Evolve!” Garchomp’s blades grew as it shook the ground hard by stomping it, which knocked over Eldrabbit immediately, but Cthulemur was still in it.  
“Go, Ninetales!” Lexiblanc-Spindini tossed out her snowy fox. “Ice Beam on Garchomp!”  
“Night Slash Dragonite!”   
Ryu exchanged Garchomp for Xinkyujyu, who was sent directly into the path of Ninetales’s beam of ice, immobilizing it. Dragonite pierced Cthulemur’s metal and slashed off a tentacle. Wires and black fluid dripped from it as Z3rc-Chaos exchanged it for Rotasweep.  
The next Pokémon Ryu sent out was his Kommo-o. Lexiblanc-Spindini and Z3rc-Chaos immediately noticed the dragon had a golden Z-Crystal hanging from its neck. It was Kommonium Z, which Lexiblanc-Spindini worried about.  
“Activate your Z-Power! Clangorous Soulblaze!” called Ryu. Kommo-o rubbed its scales together, causing draconic waves that shocked Ninetales and Rotasweep. It then was covered in an aura that gave it an omniboost.  
“Dragonite’s confused and Kommo-o is boosted. Let’s focus on Kommo-o! Ninetales, use Cola Blast!” commanded Lexiblanc-Spindini.  
“Mega Slam, Rotasweep!” Dragonite slapped itself in the face as Ninetales blasted Kommo-o with waves of soda. Rotasweep didn’t even bother to Mega Slam; even with the Special Defense boost, a Fairy attack was still too much for any Dragon/Fighting Pokémon to handle.  
“Go, Goodra!” Ryu recalled his fallen Kommo-o and sent out the snail-like dragon. “Dragonite, finish Ninetales off with Dragon Claw! Goodra, use Rain Dance!”  
Dragonite sunk its claw into Ninetales’s flesh, and Ninetales howled in pain as Lexiblanc-Spindini called her back. “Go, Lemurmobile!”  
Goodra spun around in a circle, wiggling its antennae. The arena filled with many drops of rain coming down from the ceiling.  
“Rotasweep, use Black Hole!” Rotasweep’s body split in half, revealing a vortex in the middle. It sucked in both dragons, rendering them immobile until the next turn, when Rotasweep would release them.  
“Lemurmobile, use Cola Blast on yourself!” Vanawe released some cola then licked it up.  
“Why did you do that? Lemurmobile is at full health.” said Z3rc-Chaos.  
“Well, she can’t attack the dragons now, so I decided to have her just enjoy a bit of soda.”  
“That makes sense.” replied Z3rc-Chaos. “Rotasweep, let them out!” Rotasweep shot Dragonite and Goodra out of its black hole and onto the wall. Dragonite slid down the wall, unable to battle.   
“Dragonite, come back! Go, Garchomp!” The landshark was back in action. “Goodra, Rest off the attack!” Goodra curled up to sleep.  
“Lemurmobile, Cola Blast Goodra now!” Lemurmobile shot a torrent of soda towards Goodra, but the slippery skin repelled the stickiness.  
“Garchomp, Earthquake!” Garchomp slammed its body at the ground, knocking Rotasweep and Lemurmobile out of balance and misaligning their wheels. “Goodra, Dragon Pulse Lemurmobile!”  
“But it’s sleeping!” called Lexiblanc-Spindini.  
“I know what he’s planning. Hydration!” replied Z3rc-Chaos.  
That was indeed right, as Goodra woke up in the rain, blasting a wave of dragon energy at Lemurmobile. With that and the Earthquake, Lemurmobile could not continue.  
“Go, Shadow!” Shadow’s dark aura clouded the vision of every Pokémon but herself. “Quick, use your Z-Power on Garchomp! Infinite Eclipse!” Shadow went towards Garchomp and sunk her teeth into its neck. Garchomp could not manage another Earthquake, and Ryu switched it out for Flygon.  
“Cola Blast on Goodra!” Rotasweep let out a spray of Coca-Cola from where it sucked in objects. Its higher Attack turned the move physical, bypassing Goodra’s high Special Defense.  
“Flygon, start Dragon Dancing!” called Ryu. “Goodra, Rest again!” Flygon swirled around, making itself stronger and faster. Goodra curled up again, but the Shadow Sky replaced the rain, so it could not be hydrated out of its sleep.  
“We have to focus on Flygon.” said Lexiblanc-Spindini. “Use Shadow Rush!” Shadow tackled Flygon to the ground and clawslashed it.  
“Cola Blast!” Rotasweep’s soda spray ate through Flygon’s stomach skin, revealing its viscera. If that wasn’t the time to declare it unable to battle, Ryu didn’t know what was. “Okay, you can stop now, Flygon. Go, Altaria!”  
“We don’t want Goodra to wake up. Shadow Rush it!”  
“Altaria, Mega Evolve then use Hyper Voice!” Altaria became even fluffier as it caused sound waves. Their fairy energy knocked out Shadow before she could act, and the blowback hit Rotasweep.  
“Cola Blast that Goodra, Rotasweep!” Rotasweep sprayed Goodra with more soda.  
“You did great, Shadow.” Lexiblanc-Spindini called her cat back. “Go, Gardevoir!” Lexiblanc-Spindini then noticed Goodra was getting up. “Mega Evolve and Hyper Voice!”  
Gardevoir Mega Evolved, creating sound waves from her red fin. She used the power of the waves to remove Goodra’s watery coating. The dry Goodra was quickly exchanged for a Salamence who was wearing a blue headband.  
“Rotasweep, use Mega Slam!” Rotasweep smashed its body onto Altaria’s, causing some clouds to disappear.  
“Altaria, Dragon Pulse!” A wave of dragon energy caused Rotasweep to short circuit.   
“Go, Eeveeon!” shouted Z3rc-Chaos, sending out the Eeveelution. “Activate your Z-Power and use Extreme Evostrike on Salamence!” Eeveeon, empowered by the other Eeveelutions, clawslashed Salamence.  
“Salamence, Outrage!” The dragon clawslashed Eeveeon back, which was super effective because of his lit up Dragon orb.  
“Altaria, Draco Meteor on Eeveeon!” Altaria released a storm of fiery rocks from its body, leaving Eeveeon knocked out completely. “Mawile, go!” shouted Z3rc-Chaos.  
“Gardevoir, Moonblast Altaria!” She charged up a ray of moonlight and hit her target, piercing through its clouds completely and forcing Ryu to recall it.   
“Go, Kingdra!” he called. Kingdra had on a pair of glasses looking like tiny suns. “Use Draco Meteor on Mawile!” The steaming rocks rained down on Mawile.  
“Mawile, Swords Dance and go Mega!” Mawile sharpened her jaws.  
“Gardevoir, use Cola Blast on Mawile!” Gardevoir fired some soda into Mawile’s two mouths even while Salamence was biting her.  
Salamence sunk a claw into itself, teetering around from the fatigue of attacking. “Kingdra, use Draco Meteor again!” But the power was simply suppressed as it did not damage Mawile enough to knock her out.  
“Mawile, Cola Blast!” The jet of cola from Mawile’s jaw pierced right through Salamence’s body, and Ryu switched it out for his last Pokémon, Hydreigon.  
“Gardevoir, Cola Blast Kingdra!” The shock almost defeated Kingdra, but not quite.  
“Use Scald!” The critical hit overheated Gardevoir and Mawile.  
“No choice but…” said Lexiblanc-Spindini.  
“To fight now!” said Z3rc-Chaos.   
“Dragon Pulse!” Hydreigon released the wave towards Lexiblanc-Spindini, making her step back.  
“Wanna Mega Evolve?” asked Lexiblanc-Spindini.  
“I would, but I’m not sure if… I have a Mega Stone too!” Z3rc-Chaos held up a black and purple Mega Stone. “This is Z3rchaosite.”   
“And this is Spinlexite!” They each became Mega as Z3rc-Chaos unleashed a Zombie Strike on Kingdra and Lexiblanc-Spindini an Obletterate on Hydreigon, leaving them incapacitated.  
“You win.” said Ryu.  
“Wait a minute, you had Mew. Why did you think you had no choice?” said Lexiblanc-Spindini.  
“Oh, I just always wanted to say that. I’m definitely using Mew next battle!”


End file.
